


Reversal of Fortune

by Lumitations



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: 90 percent Banter by volume, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Bisexual Disaster Luz Noceda, Chronic Illness, Comedy, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, Implied Sexual Content, Jock! Amity Blight, Lesbian Disaster Amity Blight, Light Angst, Lumity, No Smut, No beta reader, Slow Burn, Texting, not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 93,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumitations/pseuds/Lumitations
Summary: Amity Blight isn't exactly jealous of Luz Noceda, even if she is the better writer - but when it looks like Luz has been cheating on her creative writing assignments she should at least feel good about the chance to knock her rival down a peg...Shouldn't she?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This story is set in a normal-earth/human-only AU, and Amity & Luz are both college freshman attending Hexside University.POV Alternates between chaptersRating changed to Mature for Implied (not explicit) Sexual Content in chapter 6
Relationships: Alador Blight & Amity Blight & Odalia Blight, Amity Blight & Boscha & Skara, Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne, Amity Blight & Luz Noceda, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Boscha & Skara (The Owl House), Boscha & Willow Park, Camila Noceda & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda & Willow Park, Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter
Comments: 344
Kudos: 774





	1. Chapter 1

Amity bit back on the nervousness she was feeling and passed the slim stack of papers in her hand to the young woman seated at the desk across from her. She received a somewhat messy clump of paper in return which had a number of small sketches doodled in the margins.

She was no stranger to stress, but somehow the pre-game jitters from every high school soccer tournament she had entered (and won, of course) didn't even begin to compare to the queasy fear she felt knowing that someone was going to be reading her writing right in front of her.

This latest story had taken Amity an entire week to finish in between all of the homework that she'd been assigned in her other classes and she had obsessively edited it so many times by now that she could have probably recited it word for word if her critique partner had asked her to.

Not that she would have actually done it of course. Enthusiasm and eagerness could be mistaken for desperation far too easily – and the last thing anyone would ever accuse Amity of was seeming desperate for approval.

Especially _her_ approval in particular.

Amity shook herself away from that unproductive train of thought and turned her attention back to the story in her hands, glaring down at the paper as if it had personally insulted her.

Her eyes scanned the page, and she found herself being carried away by the words despite herself. The imagery, the vocabulary choices and the sentence construction were all just so incredibly readable. The story flowed along effortlessly with the kind of natural rhythm and pacing that always seemed just beyond Amity's reach to put to paper.

She glanced up at the young woman seated across from her and saw the look of serious concentration in Luz's brown eyes as she turned over the first page and continued to read through the short story that Amity had written. There was no hint of mockery in her expression, no superior smirk as she compared her own skill against the story in her hand – just a sincere interest that made Amity's insides squirm to see on her face.

Luz made a small noise in her throat somewhere between a hum and a gasp and she circled one of the sentences in Amity's piece with a pen, adding a small note in her neat, cramped handwriting beside the mark. Amity strained her eyes to try and read the upside-down comment before she turned back to the story in her own hands with a guilty shake of her head.

No matter how she may have felt about Luz personally, Amity knew that it wouldn't be fair to give her anything less than an honest critique of her work, and that meant paying attention.

Amity turned back to the story in her hands and felt herself sink back into it once again almost without meaning to. It was so easy to just dive into Luz's work and lose herself – in the last semester they'd shared several prose writing and composition classes and Amity had grown familiar with her style.

At first Amity had felt that the newcomer was a possible rival for her spot as the rising star in the Hexside University creative writing department... someone she could measure herself against and use to sharpen her skills. As their shared classes had gone by though Amity had felt something totally unfamiliar and, frankly, terrifying start to creep over her.

Doubt.

Luz Noceda wasn't Amity Blight's rival in writing – she was in a category all of her own.

Amity had taken to volunteering to critique Luz's work every chance she could get in their shared classes. Every insignificant grammar error or clumsy phrase she found in one of Luz's pieces felt like a minor victory in a war that she was doomed to lose.

The worst part was that Luz never even seemed to consider the possibility that this was a contest between the two of them. She always read through Amity's own stories with care and returned them with paragraphs worth of little notes written in the margins of her pieces – gushing compliments on a well chosen phrase, suggestions for alternative words that made the sentences so much stronger and a parade of cheerful little doodles that blasted waves of completely alien positivity back at Amity.

It's not that Amity was jealous of course. That would be completely absurd.

She'd be the first person to admit that sometimes, maybe, certain people might feel like she let her ego get a little out of control.

Winning had become a habit for Amity though – the result of a lifetime of being _encouraged_ to pursue hobbies that would earn another trophy or medal for the Blight family awards case.

The fact that this weirdo with her too-eager smile and ridiculous habit of doing silly voices for the characters whenever she had to read one of her pieces aloud for group critiques was effortlessly winning the top spot in class while Amity worked herself to distraction just to stay in second place was... well whatever it was, it wasn't good.

Even worse, Amity had found herself starting to look forward to the days when she got to read one of Luz's new pieces. She loved to see what strange direction Luz had taken the professor's straightforward writing prompts and discover the little bits of brilliant wordplay buried like carelessly discarded gems in even the most minor assignments.

Acknowledging that her own work wasn't quite as good as Luz's was one thing, but Amity was _not_ going to let herself start to fangirl over someone who showed up to class every day wearing a different Good Witch Azura t-shirt.

Where did she even find so many of those things anyway? That book series hadn't been popular in years.

A peculiar feeling, almost like _deja vu_ came over Amity as she read through a passage of character dialogue in Luz's story and she stopped cold mid-sentence.

She reread the lines once more, her eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out just why the words seemed so strange to her. It wasn't like the writing was overused or cliche - if anything the banter between the two characters felt extremely unique, though a bit heavy on puns for Amity's tastes. She racked her brain for an agonized minute trying to pinpoint what was bugging her and then suddenly Amity knew exactly what was wrong.

Amity had read these exact words somewhere before, and not in any of Luz's older pieces either.

_It can't be_ , Amity thought to herself.

_Luz wouldn't stoop to plagiarism, would she?_

She glanced up at Luz again and saw that she was still engrossed in Amity's own story. For a second Amity felt a surge of guilt at the thought of accusing her of something so serious.

_Still, I should check at least._

_Just to make sure I'm wrong... not because knowing that she was cheating... that maybe she'd always been cheating... would mean that she hadn't **really** been a better writer than me after all._

To Amity's surprise that thought brought her no pleasure at all - only a vague sense of disappointment.

She slipped her phone out from the bag which she'd left hanging off the back of her seat and typed the dialogue into a search engine. As the results page loaded Amity's eyes darted nervously back and forth between the screen and Luz as if the girl seated across from her might spontaneously develop the power to read her mind somehow.

There were only a very small number of hits, and the top link was highlighted in purple showing that Amity had visited that particular page only a few weeks ago.

Amity's eyes widened and she resisted her first instinct to cringe at the link address.

"Luz - do you have a break coming up?" Amity asked.

Luz glanced up at Amity in surprise. While Amity had been her critique partner on many writing assignments this had to have been the first time that she'd ever asked her any question that wasn't directly related to class work.

"Yeah, my next lecture isn't for another hour after this class - why?" Luz asked.

Amity drummed her fingers on top of her desk in a quick beat as she weighed her decision.

"Could you come with me to the student union after class is done? I'd like to talk with you about your story - if you don't mind," Amity said.

Luz raised a curious eyebrow, but then nodded in agreement.

"Sure - I don't know why we can't talk about it here though, I thought that was kind of what this whole 'critique' thing is for," she said.

"Because I don't want anyone else to overhear what I'm going to say," Amity said just quietly enough for Luz to hear.

"Oooh, mysterious! Alright, now I'm definitely in," Luz said with a grin.

Amity frowned slightly at the expression on her face. Luz didn't seem nervous at all, which would be weird if she suspected that her cheating had been discovered.

Maybe she just hadn't thought that anyone would catch her though.

_Well, we'll see how much she smiles when she finds out that I know her secret_ , Amity thought.

She wanted to feel good about it – she could have probably faked the feeling well enough if Boscha was still here to egg her on and help dredge up all those parts of herself that she hated the most.

But right now Amity just felt sick.

* * *

The second floor of the student union building was relatively empty at this time of day and Luz and Amity were easily able to find an out-of-the-way table near the corner of the lounge area where they weren't likely to be disturbed.

There was a moment of awkward silence after they sat down and Amity felt herself freeze up. Confronting Luz about her plagiarism had seemed like a good idea in class, but now that the moment had actually arrived she wasn't exactly sure how to go about doing it.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Luz asked, her head tilted slightly as she tried to puzzle out the reason for Amity's silence.

_I guess that'll have to do as an ice-breaker_ , Amity thought.

Amity cleared her throat and then leaned in close to speak to Luz in a low voice.

"Look, I know that trying to stay at the top of the class can be a lot of pressure, I definitely get that, but that doesn't give you permission to cheat," Amity said.

Luz reeled back as if Amity had just slapped her right in the face.

"Excuse me?" she snapped, her voice incredulous.

"Your story today - I know that you stole some of the dialogue from somewhere else. I won't tell the professor about it, just re-write it and take those parts out before you turn in the final draft," Amity said.

Luz's eyes narrowed down to a sharp glare.

"I didn't 'steal' a single word of that story Amity, and I'm not re-writing anything except for those punctuation errors that you helpfully marked out for me earlier in class," Luz said through gritted teeth.

Amity felt her face start to flush, her own mood drifting into the wide space somewhere between anger and embarrassment.

"Hey, don't try to make me the bad guy here - I know for a fact that you didn't write that conversation between the main character and her girlfriend, that practically came word-for-word from a story that I read online almost a month ago," she said.

There was a pause and Amity thought she could almost see the wheels start to turn in her classmates head.

"Where exactly did you read that story?" Luz asked, a note of suspicion creeping into her voice.

Her anger seemed to have cooled remarkably quickly.

Amity felt her mouth go dry.

_Oh crap_ , she thought.

"It was just from a site where people post up stories that they wrote for fun," Amity mumbled.

A twinkle started to show in Luz's eye and Amity felt as if a searchlight was being pointed directly at her face.

"What sort of stories do they post there?" Luz asked.

The awkward silence returned in force as Amity turned her face to avoid Luz's gaze.

"Fanfiction," Amity mumbled at last, her face flushing pure crimson.

Luz's grin could have lit up a room at that point.

"So, what you are telling me here is that not only do you read Good Witch Azura fanfiction but that you also remembered the exact dialogue from a specific story well enough to accuse me of ripping it off?" Luz asked, “Do I have that right?”

“Stealing from fanfiction is still stealing!” Amity snapped.

“Not if I'm the person that wrote it in the first place it isn't. I'll admit that it was a little lazy of me to re-use some dialogue from one of my old stories, but it wasn't theft,” Luz said as she crossed her arms.

Amity's eyes widened and she felt as though the floor was about to drop out from under her, hopefully into a bottomless pit where she could escape every single terrible thing about this utterly terrible moment.

"You wrote that story?" Amity asked in a horrified whisper.

"The fact that the author's name is 'Good_Witch_Luzura' didn't tip you off?" Luz asked.

"I didn't really look at the author's name, so no it did not," Amity admitted.

_Can someone please just kill me right now?_ , Amity groaned internally, _Where's a friendly local psychopath when you need one?_

"Sooooo... did you like it?" Luz asked.

"Huh," Amity blinked.

"The fic - what did you think of it?" Luz asked, her hand reeled impatiently around her wrist in a 'go-on' gesture.

Amity's eyes darted around the mostly empty room, but there was no convenient means of escape from this conversation in sight.

"It was good," she said, annoyed with herself at how petulant her voice sounded.

"C'mon, you've gotta give me more than that! You're a writer too, you know how desperate we all are for feedback!" Luz insisted, grabbing Amity by the shoulders and giving her an excited shake.

"It was great, okay!" Amity snapped, "I don't normally even like coffee shop AU's and it still sucked me in right from the first page! I actually bawled like a baby after I read the last chapter. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"You cried? Oh my god that is so awesome! I also got kind of teary-eyed when I was writing that chapter too," Luz said as her voice rose in excitement.

"I'm sorry," Amity said quietly.

"For crying? You were supposed to, it was meant to be a sad scene," Luz said.

"No, for calling you out over here and then accusing you of plagiarism. That was really shitty of me," Amity said.

Luz paused in the middle of basking in Amity's earlier compliments to her story to consider the apology.

"Don't be too sorry about it, I think you might have done the right thing here," Luz said.

Amity's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?" she said.

"Well yeah, I'd have been super mad too if I thought that someone in class was stealing another person's work and passing it off as their own," Luz said, "And in a way you were actually sticking up for me too since you thought it was my own fic that was getting ripped off."

Amity felt a sharp stab of guilt pierce through her at the look of trust in her classmates face.

"Plus, now I've found out that not only is the oh-so-cool Amity Blight a Good Witch Azura fan, but she is also someone that likes _my_ fanfiction about it too. That's really the delicious cherry on top of this whole sweet situation," Luz said.

"Is the fact that I liked one of your stories really such a big deal?" Amity asked in a dry tone.

"Well yeah, you're pretty much the best writer in class so hearing that you are into my stuff is just a massive ego boost," Luz said as a slight blush darkened her cheeks.

Amity's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

" _You_ think that _I'm_ the best writer in class?" she asked.

"Obviously!" Luz said, "Oh my god, those horror stories that you write are just insanely terrifying... and the way that you can so clearly convey your character's emotions just through their actions is sublime. I was ridiculously jealous of your last story."

"Why would you ever be jealous of my writing? My dialogue sucks! Your characters always sound so natural - I can actually hear their voices in my head as I read them," Amity objected, "Your descriptions are fantastic too - I can't even come close to the way you write imagery."

Luz reached across the table and grabbed Amity's hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

"Thank you - really. That means a lot coming from you," she said.

Amity glanced down at Luz's hand, and couldn't help but enjoy the feel of it resting soft and warm in her palm. She tentatively returned the squeeze.

"Well, this has just been an utterly mortifying experience," Amity said with a small smile.

Luz snorted.

"I'll bet," she said, "But I'm glad it happened."

"Well you would be, you aren't the humiliated one here," Amity pointed out.

"Hey, you've got nothing to be embarrassed about - you were trying to be the fearless champion of unknown fanfic authors everywhere," Luz said in an overly-serious tone.

"Yeah, that's me," Amity muttered, "Selfless to the core."

Luz chewed on her lower lip for a moment, her eyes deep in thought before she seemed to come to a decision.

"Would you want to maybe hang out more? Outside of class and stuff I mean," she asked, "You're the first person that I've had a real conversation with other than Eda ever since I moved to Bonesburough, and she's basically family so that doesn't really count."

Amity was about to automatically decline but stopped herself. She hadn't really felt the urge to socialize all that much ever since she had drifted apart from Boscha and Skarra after graduation. Something told her that she'd probably have a very different experience spending time with Luz than with her old friends though. One that would be less likely to leave her feeling dull and ashamed afterwards.

"Sure, that might be kind of fun," she said.

"I mean, we clearly have a few interests in common," Luz pointed out.

"A few, yeah," Amity conceded.

"We're both writers, we both like the criminally underappreciated Good Witch Azura series and I think we share an excellent taste in fanfiction too," Luz teased.

"You are never going to let that go, are you?" Amity groaned.

"God no, we could be friends when we're a hundred and six years old and I'd still wheel myself over to you in the old folks home and mention that time that you accused me of plagiarizing my own damn story," Luz said.

Amity felt a little jolt and blurted the first thing that came to mind without thinking.

"So we're already friends now, huh?" she asked.

Luz pulled back into her seat and her eyes dropped from Amity's face.

"I dunno. Maybe if you'd want to be? I'm still not super great at knowing how the whole 'friends' thing works. I had a few in high school, but I haven't seen them since graduation after I moved out here to go to Hexside," Luz said in a quiet voice.

Amity heard the usual bright tone leach out from Luz's voice and felt a pang of sympathy in her chest.

"I've never had a lot of luck with making friends either. I think I only ever had one real friend in my entire life and I haven't seen her since I was a little kid," Amity admitted.

"You don't really give off 'loner nerd' vibes, if you don't mind me saying," Luz said skeptically.

Amity gave a small, tight smile at that.

"I was never alone - I still had plenty of people with me that I hung out with. I just felt lonely when I was with them," Amity replied.

"Heavy," Luz said.

Amity threw her arms up in a dramatic shrug.

"Today's just seems to be my day for painfully awkward and heavy conversations I guess," she said.

"You're right - we need to get more silliness in here to balance things out," Luz agreed with a nod.

Amity couldn't keep the quiet chuckle from bubbling out of her when she saw just how serious Luz looked as she said that.

"Okay then, what should we talk about if we aren't going to be baring our deep inner pain to each other like, four minutes into this weird new friendship?" Amity asked.

Luz ran a knuckle across her lip as she pondered the question.

"Alright, so don't take this the wrong way. I want you to know that I'm not making fun of you here - but I've been dying to actually talk to someone about Azura fics in person, pretty much forever. Willow and Gus weren't really into the series," Luz said.

Amity hesitated. She'd hidden all evidence of her more nerdy hobbies for so long that it felt unnatural to say anything about them out loud... but Luz had such an expectant look in her eyes that she couldn't bring herself to disappoint her.

"Well... I always thought that it was kind of weird that Hecate is the focus character in so many stories since she's just the antagonist of the series and not the actual main character," Amity said.

Luz gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Rivals and villains are just super fun characters to write about - they've got so many internal conflicts and worries that main characters usually don't have to deal with," Luz said.

"Yeah, but the angst is just so over the top sometimes!" Amity objected with a passion that surprised even herself, "People always give Hecate these ultra-tragic and gloomy backstories that just feel really out of place with the light-hearted tone of the books."

Amity stopped mid-rant when she saw that Luz was resting her chin on her hands and gazing at her with the widest eyes she had ever seen.

“Where have you been all my life you ridiculous nerd?” Luz asked, punctuating her question with an extremely exaggerated lovesick sigh.

“Oh shut up,” Amity said as she felt the traitorous warmth of yet another blush spread across her face once again.

Amity told herself that the fact that Luz had possibly the most charming smile that she'd ever seen had nothing to do with the reason that her face was currently the same color as a Stop sign.

She was just annoyed. This was a blush of purely platonic annoyance.

Even with Luz's teasing Amity found herself enjoying the conversation immensely. They wandered from topic to topic, swapping jumbled summaries of their favorite stories, debating the merits of their favorite ships and at one point getting into a surprisingly heated argument about whether the direct-to-DVD movies counted as canon or not.

Amity couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun just talking to someone.

"Have you ever written any fics yourself?" Luz asked.

"One or two, back when I was a kid," Amity replied with forced casualness.

"Where did you post them?" Luz asked, "You already read one of mine, I want to check yours out too."

Amity shook her head quickly.

"Nope, no way," she said.

"Are you holding out on me Blight?" Luz asked suspiciously.

"I never put any of the stories I wrote online," Amity said, "I just kept them hidden in a folder on my computer labeled 'Homework' in case my annoying brother and sister were poking around for new things to make fun of me about."

"What? Why wouldn't you want to put them online? Half the fun of writing this stuff is to share it!" Luz said.

Amity shrugged.

"I was worried what would happen if anyone managed to figure out that I was the person who wrote them. I know it's super paranoid and pretty much impossible unless I leaked all my personal info in the story somehow, but I couldn't bring myself to put them online and risk the humiliation," she admitted.

"Wow. You must have had some seriously awful bullies in your old school to have been that worried about something like that," Luz said, her eyes beaming pure sympathy at Amity.

Amity felt another stab of guilt skewer her right through the heart.

"Yeah, they were the worst," she said, her expression carefully neutral as she tried not to remember all the 'fun' that Boscha had dragged her into, almost always at some other unfortunate students expense.

"Well we aren't in high school anymore - no one cares what you do in college since the place is just too huge for all that cliquey bullshit," Luz said.

"I suppose, yeah," Amity said.

"You should write a new story and post it up then - I'd love to see what you could do with the characters," Luz declared.

"I don't know," Amity said, "It's already a lot of work just to keep up with the stuff I have to write for class as it is."

"Yeah, but this isn't supposed to be work - it's for fun. Something to write to help you unwind from all the stress of papers and exams. Plus, the only way to improve your skills as a writer is to write after all," Luz said.

"Well... maybe I will write one. I won't post it anywhere though, but I'll share it with you," Amity said.

"Oh, my very own super-secret fanfic? I feel honored," Luz said with a wink.

The fact that Amity's heart sped up ever so slightly at Luz's wink was also probably just from annoyance she decided.

Obviously. What else could it be?

An alarm chimed from somewhere in Luz's pocket and she frowned.

"Ugh... I've got to get going or I'm going to be late for Geology," Luz groaned.

Amity snorted.

"Why would you want to take that class? Are you planning on going into mining after graduation?" she asked.

"It was the least annoying looking science course I could take to fulfill my minimum requirements," Luz admitted.

"Well, have fun poking rocks or whatever it is you guys do in there," Amity said.

"I wish - it's all textbook stuff right now. They probably won't let us actually play with the rocks until the finals," Luz said as she rose from her seat.

Amity rose up to leave as well, but Luz motioned over to stop her.

"What's your number?" she asked as she pulled her phone out from her pocket.

"If I give it to you, are you going to spam me with silly memes all day?" Amity asked her suspiciously.

"Not _all_ day," Luz answered in the least trustworthy voice that Amity had ever heard.

"Fine, give me yours too then," Amity said as she dug her own phone out from her bag.

"Are you going to put me down as Luzura in your contacts?" Luz asked.

Amity snorted.

"Definitely not, no," she said.

"Boo- alright then, be no fun," Luz said as she entered Amity's number into her own phone.

Amity watched Luz dash off to her class, taking the stairs two at a time as she rushed out of the student union building.

Today had been, without a doubt, the strangest day of Amity's life since she had left home for college.

Strange or not though, she couldn't deny that for the first time in as long as she could remember that feeling of overwhelming pressure squeezing down on her which had been her constant companion seemed to have lifted ever so slightly from her shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

Luz awoke to a pair of poison-green eyes staring deep into her soul and a suffocating weight like lead crushing down on her chest.

"Get off me, King," Luz mumbled, shoving up from underneath her blanket to prod at the enormous old tomcat in a way that kept her arms safely out of reach from his claws.

King endured the prodding with an almost disdainful air, eventually moving off from atop Luz after a few minutes while somehow making it seem like he was only doing so because he felt like it.

Luz had assumed that Eda had been exaggerating when she had introduced her pet as "basically a demon straight from Hell", but a few weeks of living with him had proved eye-opening. Her only prior experience with cats had been through adorable video clips of people's pets being silly since her mother was allergic to the animals, and the reality had proved to be a lot more bitey than she had anticipated.

Luz was determined to win the little monster over somehow - she felt she was already making some progress since he'd recently taken to waking her up by crawling onto her chest instead of walking directly on top of her head or trying to suffocate her by lying across her face.

"Maybe I ought to buy you some catnip? That might calm you down a little," Luz mused aloud to the cat.

The black cat stared back at her, and she was struck once again by how his green eyes seemed somehow eerie since they were framed by the skull-like pattern of white fur on his face.

"Is that what you'd like?" Luz asked in a sing-song babytalk voice, "For auntie Luz to score you some kitty drugs?"

King gave a non-committal meow and sauntered out of the room. Luz could already hear the sound of Eda shuffling around the small kitchen and preparing breakfast. That was unusual in and of itself since Eda usually slept in even later than Luz, and even when she did wake up early she usually wasn't big on any breakfast larger than a few cups of coffee.

Luz's stomach growled as the smell of waffles drifted its way up the stairs so she decided to shelve her curiosity for the moment and instead started digging through the chest of drawers for something to wear.

The old attic space where Luz was staying had probably never been intended to serve as a bedroom, but even cramped as it was, it was slowly starting to feel like home to her. She grabbed her phone from where it lay charging beside her bed, unlocked the screen with a quick flick of her finger and pulled up her most recent text conversation.

She smiled as she re-read bits from her chat with Amity the other night and then tapped in a new message.

 **Me** : I'm having waffles for breakfast - jealous?

She dropped the phone on the bed while she finished dressing and heard it chime behind her as she pulled her new t-shirt over her head.

 **calAMITY** : I already had breakfast over an hour ago. How do you manage to sleep this late every day?

Luz glanced at the time on the phone screen and saw that it wasn't quite 8 AM yet. A shudder ran up her spine as she tried to imagine having the kind of sick mind that would be able to enjoy waking up so early.

 **Me** : Intense training. I've been perfecting this routine all my life.

 **calAMITY** : Knowing you, I'd believe it. You'd probably have a lot more energy for waking up earlier if you exercised something other than your imagination for once.

Luz gave a small frown, unable to think of a good comeback and tucked the phone into her pocket.

Amity, she now knew after a few weeks of increasingly friendly conversations, used to be the captain of her high school's soccer team and she still kept up with parts of her old workout routine to this day.

She'd actually invited Luz to join her for her daily 6 AM run once, and then eventually forgave Luz several days later after she had laughed in Amity's face in response. In Luz's defense, she had assumed that Amity had been joking since the idea of anyone wanting to wake up at the crack of dawn to run in circles was clearly something that would only happen as the setup for a hilarious punchline.

Eda glanced up as she heard Luz enter the kitchen and greeted her with a grin that was only slightly forced. The older woman's wild mane of iron-grey hair looked even messier than usual this morning, and Luz couldn't help but notice the dark circles under her eyes.

“Good morning kid – ready for some home cooking?” she asked as she finished piling steaming golden squares onto a chipped ceramic platter and then set it down on the dining table.

Luz turned her head and saw the empty box of frozen waffles sitting on the counter.

“Using the old family recipe today I see,” she said.

“Yep, just like mom used to cram in the toaster when I was a little girl,” Eda confirmed.

The kitchen, like the rest of Eda's apartment, was appointed in an eclectic style that Luz had taken to calling 'modernist junkyard casual' in her mind. None of the pieces of furniture matched at all, and the chairs around Eda's glass-top dining table ranged from a gorgeous mahogany antique decorated with carved accents and faded satin cushions, to a battered old wicker seat which had a number of cigarette burns along the arms despite the fact that Eda didn't smoke.

Luz decided to take her place at the table in a tall, sturdy chair which was totally ordinary except for the fact that the entire thing was painted up in a silver and gold zebra stripe pattern for some reason.

She forked a good sized pile of the freshly toasted waffles off the platter and onto her plate before she then drenched them in a generous dose of syrup.

“Is there any particular reason for the special breakfast this morning?” Luz asked before slicing a small chunk of waffle from her plate and popping it in her mouth.

“What, I can't do something nice for my favorite little freeloader every now and then?” Eda asked in a mock-offended tone as she dug into her own plate.

“You're always telling me to look for the dark cloud lurking behind every silver lining,” Luz pointed out.

“Since when did you start paying attention to any of my incredibly valuable life lessons?” Eda countered with a smile.

“I always pay attention – I just don't always follow them,” Luz said.

Eda nodded and drummed her fingernails across the glass tabletop with a noise vaguely like a tap-dancing spider as she chewed her own mouthful of waffles.

“Well if you really must know, I wasn't able to sleep that well. My curse decided to flare up again pretty bad during the night,” Eda said at last.

Luz winced in sympathy. She didn't know the exact name of the illness that Eda had, and Eda herself only ever referred to it as her 'curse' since she hated talking about anything as personal as her medical history. She did know that when it struck the pain, nausea and other symptoms could be unbearably intense for Eda and the attacks could last anywhere from minutes to hours.

The condition wasn't fatal, thankfully, but it was also apparently incurable and extremely difficult to treat with most medication. Eda did have a few connections to secure what she called her 'alternative therapies'. Luz was pretty sure those particular therapies weren't 100% legal, but she wasn't going to blame the older woman for looking for any possible way to cope with her condition that she could find.

“You should be getting some rest right now if you've been up all night, not making me waffles,” Luz chided.

Eda chopped a hand sharply as if she were cutting off Luz's words in midair before they could reach her.

“It wasn't _all_ night – the attack didn't hit till a bit before dawn so I managed to get a few hours of shuteye. I don't really feel like going back to bed right now, and since I was already up we both got a hot breakfast out of the deal so its not like it was all bad, right?” she said.

Luz chewed her lip and poked around at the waffles on her plate as she considered the situation. Eda could be incredibly stubborn, and her usual reaction to one of her episodes was to throw herself into things twice as hard, as if to prove that no illness could control her life. Any attempt to coddle her would be met with stiff resistance.

A different approach was required here.

“Well if you don't want to go to sleep that's fine – but there's no reason for you to have to stay cooped up in the building all day either. Why don't you let me take the afternoon shift at the shop when my classes are done and you can go out for a night on the town and unwind a bit?” Luz suggested.

Eda looked like she was about to object, but Luz held up a hand to stop her.

“The evening traffic is always pretty light on weekdays so its not like I'll be overwhelmed from dealing with a ton of customers. Plus, I think I've gotten a lot better at working the register lately so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. You deserve to go enjoy yourself after putting up with a horrible night like that,” Luz said firmly.

Eda paused to consider the girls words.

“Are you sure you want to do that? You're only young once – you should be out there enjoying your own free time,” Eda said.

Luz waved the objection away.

“It'll be fine – it's not like I've got a packed social calendar right now anyway,” Luz said.

Eda gave the girl a warm smile, and the morning light glinted off her gold-capped canine tooth which Luz always thought made her look vaguely piratical.

“You're a good kid Luz,” she said.

“Yeah, I'm pretty awesome,” Luz agreed.

“Humble too,” Eda said with a half lidded stare.

“None humbler,” Luz said with exaggerated pride, “They'll probably be building huge platinum monuments to my superhuman humility in the future.”

Eda gave a snorting laugh and shook her head.

“Would you want to borrow the scooter to get to school today since you'll be home early? I don't really feel up to making any long trips right now – I might just head downstairs and get a head start on the inventory for the month instead,” she said.

Luz's face split into a wide grin at the thought of not having to take the odd smelling city bus to get to the campus like she normally had to. She'd only had the chance to drive Eda's motor scooter a handful of times, and the experience had always been an enjoyable one – even if her last trip out on it had ended a bit messier than Eda had liked.

“That would be awesome – I promise that I won't let it get a scratch this time!” Luz said.

“See that you don't,” Eda warned her, “Or else you can kiss all future scooter privileges goodbye till after you graduate.”

Luz threw Eda a crisp salute, then snagged the scooter's key from its peg on the wall with alarming speed and dashed out of the door before Eda had a chance to change her mind.

Luz's morning ride through the streets of Bonesborough was peaceful – traffic was never that bad in the small town, and on the street where Eda & Luz lived many people's homes were within walking distance of their places of work. It was an especially short walk for Eda since her apartment was located on the second floor directly above Clawthorne's Curiosities, the shop where she bought, sold and traded for all kinds of strange antiques, occult paraphernalia and assorted knick-knacks.

Luz sometimes suspected that the shop itself was just a convenient front for Eda to take all the best, or weirdest, pieces for herself which would go a long way to explaining the chaotic clutter that she lived in.

She took the long way to campus, stretching out her time on the scooter as much as possible to enjoy the feel of the morning breeze blowing on her face. It was an old machine, Eda referred to it as _vintage_ , and its top speed wasn't especially high but the feeling of absolute freedom that Luz had as she steered it through the streets was exhilarating.

 _I've really got to get myself one of these someday,_ Luz thought as she took a sharp turn down a side street.

_It might help if I get a license first though._

She arrived at school much earlier than usual, even with all the detours she had taken on the way, and when she reached the lecture hall for her Statistics course she realized that she was the first person in the room. Even the professor wasn't there yet and he was a stickler for punctuality.

Luz pulled her phone out from her pocket and opened up her chat with Amity once again.

 **calAMITY** : Knowing you, I'd believe it. You'd probably have a lot more energy for waking up earlier if you exercised something other than your imagination for once.

Luz chewed absently on a knuckle as she re-read Amity's last message. The pair had tentatively established a routine of teasing and mocking each other back and forth over text – it had started with Luz just wanting to mess with her new friend to get to know her better, but she quickly found that Amity could give just as good as she got which made it much more fun.

Luz was still drawing a blank on finding an appropriately snappy comeback for once, so she scrolled through her contacts screen and decided to see if maybe two heads would be better than one for solving this particular problem.

 **Me** : Hey, help me think of a good way to say that I'm actually not super un-athletic.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : But you kind of are though.

 **Me** : Unfair – my scrawny nerd body is probably due to genetics or something.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Also the fact that the heaviest thing I've ever seen you lift was one of those bigass fantasy novels you love so much.

 **Me** : I'm getting attacked on all sides today! Baselessly slandered!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Ah, this is about your girlfriend again isn't it?

Luz felt her ears begin to burn hot after she read that incredibly inaccurate message.

 **Me** : No, this is about me needing to find the perfect comeback to shove in my FRIENDS face to show her I'm not some pathetic sloth-human hybrid.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Oh, right – its just a comeback that you want to shove in her face, and not your own face

 **WILLOWthewisp** : You know

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Because you want to kiss her super bad.

 **Me** : Oh my god, shut up. For the trillionth time, I don't have a crush on Amity.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Which is why you have talked about her pretty much every conversation we've had lately, of course.

 **Me** : What else am I going to talk about? There's nothing going on in this town, and she's basically the only person I know here.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : You told me yesterday that you loved the way her hair smelled when you were sitting behind her in class.

 **Me** : I was just curious about her brand of shampoo!

Willow responded with a gif of a kitten shaking its head in what appeared to be an extremely knowing and condescending fashion for an animal with a brain the size of a peanut.

 **Me** : Oh hey, class is starting early – I'll talk to you later Willow.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Cool, keep enjoying your scenic trip through denial.

Luz set her phone aside and then lay her head flat on the desk, blowing out a slow, calming breath.

She would really have to set things straight with Willow and make herself more clear next time. It was only natural that Luz would talk about Amity after all – she was, as she had stated, the only person Luz knew in town other than Eda. Bonesborough was also a fairly sleepy little city and didn't have a lot going on in the way of interesting events, local festivals or weird unsolved crimes to report on. Before Amity had come along the biggest news she had to share was what sort of horrible present King had decided to leave in her room that particular day.

She knew the cat was trying to be friendly in his own way, but frankly she'd have preferred a gift card to yet another dead mouse.

Yes, _obviously_ Amity was cool, super smart, surprisingly toned in that lean yet graceful runners-build way that drew her eye like a magnet and she had a face that some ancient sculptor could have used as the model for a goddess of both love and war...

That didn't mean that Luz was _into_ her or anything though.

Obviously.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz, deciding to be the bigger woman, left Amity's taunt from that morning unanswered but once her second class of the day let out she did send her a text to ask if she would be free to join Luz for lunch at the student union building.

Amity had agreed, and the two were soon seated together at their usual table on the second floor and enjoying their respective meals.

Their conversation turned to literature and writing, as it often did. They started with a discussion of which books they had been reading lately; Amity was a connoisseur of supernatural horror while Luz tended to prefer the worlds of heroic fantasy but there was plenty of room in the middle to appreciate each others tastes. They moved on to talking about the latest assignments they'd received in their shared writing classes and passed a few pages of first draft material between themselves for a quick critique session.

Luz sighed and tossed her head back after she finished her first read through of Amity's offering.

“Okay, this is a tragedy,” she declared.

Amity's face scrunched up in an annoyed scowl.

“I didn't think it was that bad,” she muttered.

“No, it was fantastic – that's the problem!” Luz said, “Why are you only doing creative writing as your minor? Its such a waste!”

Amity's cheeks grew tinged with pink at the compliment.

“Well you can't really get that far in the science fields with a humanities degree,” she said.

“Why not just switch your career goal to being a full time writer then? I never hear you talking about nuclear biochemistry or whatever it is that you study even though that's what you spend most of your time working on,” Luz said.

“That's because I know that you don't care about things like molecular biology and organic chemistry – you're taking rocks for jocks to get your science credit so there wouldn't be any point in talking to you about the advanced stuff,” Amity countered.

Luz shook her head.

“No no no, that's total crap. If you really loved that stuff then you probably wouldn't be able to stop yourself from nerding out about it. My friend Gus is super into aliens, and he can talk non-stop for _hours_ about any potential space encounter no matter how fake-looking the pictures are if you let him,” Luz said, “Seriously, I timed him once.”

“Sounds like he's kind of a lot,” Amity said.

“He totally is, and I love him for it, but the thing is that when he's ranting about whether or not Bigfoot is really an advanced scout preparing Earth for first contact, his face just lights up and you can _feel_ the passion just rolling off of him like steam pouring out from a big boiling pot,” Luz said, “You get the exact same way whenever we're talking about writing together. Do you ever honestly feel the urge to just gush like that about your science class stuff?”

Luz watched Amity's expression shift as she considered her words carefully.

“Not really, but I'm very good at it though,” she said, “Plus, my parents are counting on me to do it.”

“What do you mean?” Luz asked.

“My brother and sister have pretty much washed their hands of the family business and my dad wants me to eventually be the one to take over Blight Chemicals instead. He and my mom already have my whole career mapped out from starting on as an entry level R&D scientist in the chem labs all the way up to CEO after my dad retires,” Amity said.

Luz frowned at her friends words.

“Don't take this the wrong way, but isn't it absolutely insane to have someone else plan your whole life out for you without giving you any say in the matter?” she said.

Amity shrugged.

“I'm already used to the idea – they've been preparing me for it since I was a kid,” she said, “And at least I was able to convince them to let me take writing as my minor so that I'd be able to have a little fun while I'm here.”

“I thought college was supposed to be about finding yourself and stuff though,” Luz pointed out.

Amity's face took on a sort of rigid expression and her voice was pitched oddly when she spoke.

“Finding yourself is what someone does when they are lost – but I always know exactly where you are supposed to be,” she said.

Luz cocked a quizzical eyebrow.

Amity shook her head quickly.

“Sorry, just something they told me once – if you knew my mom you'd have probably laughed at my impression of her,” she said.

“Yeah, she sounds like a whole barrel of fun,” Luz said.

“She's an acquired taste – like poison. You need to build up immunity to her a little bit at a time in small doses,” Amity responded dryly.

“I thought that didn't actually work?” Luz asked.

“Yeah, it doesn't work that well with her either,” Amity said.

Luz couldn't contain a sudden shocked laugh, and Amity smiled at her reaction.

“So, what sort of stuff are you going to be making when you're off working at your family's company instead of writing awesome books?” Luz asked.

“They make all sorts of household products, but if I'm being honest its mostly poisons. Pesticides, herbicides and so on – if you need something to die we probably make a formula for it at BlightChem,” Amity said.

“Wait, your last name is Blight and your family manufactures deadly chemicals for a living?” Luz asked, “Isn't that a little too obvious to be real?”

Amity shook her head.

“Luz, you've got it backwards – my family is the reason that blight means what it does in the first place,” she responded.

Luz gave a whistle of surprise.

“Whoa, really?” she asked.

Amity managed to keep her composure for a few seconds but she broke down in a laugh at the wondering expression on Luz's face.

“No – but it's cute that you believed me so easily though,” she said.

Luz felt her face flush from embarrassment and then decided to try and turn the tables.

“Oh, so you think I'm cute, huh?” she asked, leaning in toward Amity with a smile as she fluttered her long dark eyelashes at her.

Amity sputtered.

“We're getting off topic here,” she said.

“I'm not hearing a nooooo,” Luz teased in a sing-song voice.

“How about you – what made you decide to gamble everything on a creative writing major instead of a degree that'll actually get you a job?” Amity asked quickly.

Luz wanted to continue teasing Amity a bit more, but the question was a good one and she felt that if Amity was going to bare so much of her personal information that it would only be fair of her to do the same.

“Well, you may be surprised to know that when I was younger many people considered me to be something of a nerd,” Luz began.

“No!” Amity objected in feigned shock.

Luz raised a hand to forestall her protests.

“I know, I know – looking at me now it may be hard to imagine,” Luz said as she straightened herself in her seat and brushed a few crumbs from her faded old anime convention t-shirt, “but I spent a lot of my time alone reading books instead of playing with the other kids.”

She paused and swallowed an unexpected lump in her throat, surprised at herself for the sharp pang she felt at that particular set of memories which she had thought long buried.

“Anyway,” Luz continued, “Back then my absolute favorite books were all fantasy stories where kids who were unusual or didn't fit in really made a difference. Like, they were really special people and not just... weird. I think reading things like that helped me get some confidence when I was in a bad place mentally, and I'd like to be able to write my own stories so that other people who don't think they fit in would be able to find a little inspiration of their own too.”

Luz took a slow blink and a deep breath, then shook her head to clear away the negativity that had come rushing back out from the grey days of her past. She looked up and saw that Amity was looking back at her with a softness she'd never seen in her eyes before. Her hand was halfway poised toward Luz's shoulder, fingers curled like a half open flower.

“Plus,” Luz said with a burst of manic cheerfulness, “Writers don't have to wake up early and drive to some boring cubicle job every day, so of course I'd be all for that.”

Amity's hand dropped back by her side and she cleared her throat.

“The Azura books were kind of like that for me – there was a lot about my life as a kid that I didn't particularly enjoy and it was nice to be able to escape into a world full of magic and wonder for a while,” Amity said.

“Then you really should think about becoming a writer too – imagine if you could write the perfect book for some other little Amity out there that would have everything you'd have needed to hear when you were that age,” Luz said.

Amity looked stunned and her eyes dropped down to the table.

“Maybe I'll think about it a little,” she said.

“Also if you do switch majors to writing we'd be able to keep taking a lot more classes together – my work has gotten so much better since you've been my critique partner,” Luz said.

Amity's ears flushed red and the corner of her mouth twitched up in a smile.

“I think mine has too,” she said.

There was a companionable silence between them as they finished off the remains of their lunch, broken only when they pointed out a few things in each other's first draft stories that could be improved upon and the furious scribbling of pencils as they added in the changes on the spot in order to not forget them.

Luz was the first to get up from the table and she gave Amity an apologetic smile as she rose to her feet.

“Sorry to cut our workshopping short so soon, but I promised Eda that I'd watch the store for the afternoon shift. It means skipping intro to philosophy for today but I think I'll survive,” she said.

Amity gave her a distracted wave, her eyebrows furrowed as she re-read her draft with the new changes in place from the beginning.

“Good luck at the junk-shop,” she said.

On impulse, Luz bent down and enfolded Amity in a tight hug.

“See you later writing buddy,” she whispered before straightening up and shuffling away from the table with her usual burst of speed.

Luz could feel a fire blazing inside her face and her heart began to speed up alarmingly fast as she hopped down the stairs.

 _Damn you, Willow_ , she thought to herself.

Of course that wasn't exactly fair of her – it wasn't really Willow's fault that Luz was feeling like such a mess right now.

Obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and critiques are always welcome even if I don't respond much!
> 
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *HEADS UP*
> 
> I don't think that this fic is going to become smut exactly, but the characters in this AU are college aged adults and not little kids so their relationship may eventually develop into something more mature than some blushing and hand holding as future chapters are written. If that is something that you as a reader are not comfortable with and you want to bail, now's the time to do it.
> 
> For everyone else who is still interested in reading, I hope that you enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

Amity was glad Luz hadn't turned back towards her after she'd given her that unexpected goodbye hug since she didn't think her new friend would enjoy the experience of watching Amity spontaneously combust.

At least, that's what Amity felt might happen to her at any moment right now anyway. She could tell just from the feel of her skin that her cheeks must be flushed a truly startling shade of red and her heart was pounding harder than it had been during her morning run around the campus.

She shook her head furiously and turned her attention back to the story in her hands, mentally inserting the suggestions that Luz had made to change the flow of the sentences as she read through it. The edits were all fairly minor but Amity could see how they tightened the narrative up to pull the readers attention more directly toward the stories conclusion, and she found herself smiling with excitement at the prospect of all the new tweaks she could make on the second draft by the time she reached the end.

Luz really was amazing-

 _An amazing writer that is_ , Amity automatically corrected herself mid-thought. Making on-the-spot mental edits whenever she thought about Luz had become almost second nature to her at this point.

Luz was an amazing friend as well, judging by how easily she was able to share her feelings and concerns with Amity without any reservations – as if the idea of doubting Amity never even occurred to her.

She was a better friend than Amity could ever remember having aside from a few frustratingly vague recollections of her early childhood. All the memories she had of those times more closely resembled feelings than images. The brightest and most painful were of Amity's friendship with a sweet, clumsy girl which had been brutally severed by Amity's parents because she had failed to meet their ill-defined standards as a suitable playmate for their daughter.

Amity's grip on her pencil tightened as she picked at the mental scab over that old half-healed wound.

Well, she wasn't a vulnerable child anymore and if anyone wanted to try and pry Luz away from her now they'd have to go through Amity first. She did not intend to make it an easy fight if it came to that.

She blinked in surprise as the unexpected aggressiveness of that thought struck her.

Amity frowned. Usually spending time with Luz tended to cheer her up, but the seriousness of their last conversation seemed to have put her in a gloomy mood. Especially all the discussion about her parents and their plans for her future.

She needed a diversion.

With a flash of inspiration, Amity grabbed her phone and pulled up the fanfiction site where she had first accidentally encountered Luz's non-academic work and then typed the name Luzura into the search bar.

Amity had been enjoying the game of low-level sniping and playful mockery that she and Luz engaged in regularly over text, and she was certain that there would be tons of ammunition for her to use here – especially if she found some of Luz's older and more clumsily written works with really obvious self-insert characters. This could be her silver bullet for anytime Luz tried to bring up that minor incident about Amity's misunderstanding regarding plagiarism from a few weeks back.

It didn't take long to find Luz's profile on the site and she saw that there was a very large number of stories posted there under the pen name of Good_Witch_Luzura. Amity knew that Luz had been writing fanfiction for years and apparently she had a ridiculous output rate.

 _No wonder she's such a good writer_ , Amity thought as she looked at the word counts for some of the stories, _She has had a LOT of practice._

Most of the stories on Luz's page seemed to be Good Witch Azura themed, but there were also lots of works for other fandoms that Amity had never even heard of as well. Amity decided to ignore those since she wouldn't have any context for the stories, which would likely make them much harder to use for teasing Luz.

As Amity scrolled down through Luz's list of Good Witch Azura stories she noticed that many of them were Azura/Hecate shipping fics (one of Amity's favorite type of guilty-pleasure read in between more serious books). She also noticed that more than one of those fics were rated as 18+ only.

Quite a lot more than one actually.

Amity tried to reconcile her mental image of Luz, her extremely goofy friend who had once shown up to class in a suit of otter pajamas because she woke up late and didn't have time to change before school, with the person who was the author of this particular collection of stories but her mind rebelled. It was like trying to see both halves of an optical illusion at the same time.

Amity's eyes roamed over to the tags of those adult-rated stories again – some just had a simple indicator of 'smut', but others got fairly explicit about what kind of activities might be contained in that particular example of smut. She felt her face start to flush again as she re-read a few of those tags two or three times.

Amity's eyes glanced up and darted around the room of the student union building, which was starting to empty as the lunch crowd died down and students shuffled off to their next round of classes.

She turned her attention back to the screen and her finger hovered over a cluster of links which blared out red warnings that these stories were definitely not safe for anyone who might have wanted to read them while at work.

It's not that Amity was _curious_ about reading these specific stories solely for the sake of their contents.

That would be totally absurd. She wasn't a child after all, and she had read her share of smutty stories before... and had a few of her personal favorites saved in her bookmarks if she was being honest.

She was just looking for material to tease Luz with of course, in a totally fun and platonic way that they'd both have a good friendly laugh about later.

Anyone could see that there would probably be mountains of material to use for that purpose within these particular stories. That was the only reason Amity wanted to read them. Because it would be funny to bring them up to Luz and maybe get to watch her blush and stammer a bit in that adorable way that she had that made Amity want to...

 _That_ _ **funny**_ _way that she had_ , Amity autocorrected herself, _that doesn't make me want to do anything specific to and/or with her_.

No, Amity was definitely _not_ growing even more insatiably curious about what Luz had written in these stories the longer she went without clicking on the link just beneath her finger.

Nor about what Luz might have been thinking or feeling as she was in the process of writing them.

Nor if all of these stories were purely the products of her friends over-active imagination or if some of them might have been inspired by real world experiences she'd had...

Amity shook her head quickly at that last thought.

 _Amity Blight_ , she told herself firmly, _Would it really be right for you to read these stories? Wouldn't the sort of ideas or fantasies that Luz wrote in them be extremely personal... wouldn't this be just as bad as if I was reading Luz's diary?_

She cringed at the memory of finding pages of her own hand-written teenage angst taped up across the various bulletin boards of her old high school when she was just a freshman. It hadn't been until almost the end of her junior year before she could bring herself to say a single word to Edric and Emira again after that incident and she would have done anything to have avoided the whole experience. Her relationship with her siblings had never fully recovered after the damage that their 'prank' had caused and she couldn't stand the idea of doing the same kind of harm to her newfound friendship with Luz.

 _Luz would never do something like that to me if she had access to my private writings_ , Amity decided with a sharp nod of her head, _So I should try to be just as good a friend as she would._

With a feeling of firm resolution in her heart she scrolled down past the story titled ' _A Touch of Magic_ ' which had drawn her attention the most. By sheer coincidence it also seemed to have been the story with the largest number of explicit tags that she had seen so far.

 _On the other hand_ , a treacherous voice in the back of her mind began, _It's not like this is really the same situation as finding a diary at all, right?_

 _This page of stories wasn't something that I had discovered hidden under Luz's bed or anything like that_ , the voice continued.

Amity paused mid-thought and gulped at the lightning flash of images her brain supplied about potential situations where she might find herself near Luz's bed but she clamped down firmly on that particular train of thought before it could leave the station.

 _These fics are stories that Luz posted up of her own free will for the whole world to see_ , the voice went on smoothly, _In a way I would be doing her a favor by reading them. All of the stories on her page exist there because she wants them to be read after all, otherwise why would she even share them in the first place?_

Amity's resolve wavered. The voice was definitely making a lot of sense. She tried to ignore the fact that this particular part of her subconscious had sounded vaguely like Boscha for some reason that she didn't fully understand.

That detail did seem like something that would be important to bring up the next time she had a session with her therapist though.

Amity scrolled back up and clicked the link.

  
  


* * *

  
  


_Luz has a real flair for writing descriptive imagery_ , Amity thought to herself some time later.

She also seemed to have an artists touch for conveying a scenes mood with her words. Especially a sort of stormy, passionate intensity that Amity found very bewitching.

On a purely technical level, that is.

Amity shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she scrolled down through the story, gently gnawing on her lower lip as she read through a scene where Hecate was treating Azura to an extremely novel use of the _Shining Touch_ spell which the good witch seemed to be enjoying very much indeed. Luz's writing was quite clear on that point.

 _Someone needs to do something about the air conditioning in this building_ , Amity thought as she absently fanned at her face with a barely-touched page of calculus homework, _It feels like its not even running right now for some reason._

Amity felt her breath catch in her throat as she reached a passage which described Azura rising up from where she had collapsed panting on the bed, no doubt intent on returning Hecate's earlier attention. She absently reached out for a potato chip left over from her earlier lunch and popped it in her mouth, her eyes never leaving the screen as she crunched it to pieces and swallowed it down without the taste even registering in her mind.

The story had just reached a fairly climactic turn when the characters discovered a _definitely_ non-canon use for the Crystal Wand of Power that Amity was finding particularly interesting when a text notification from Luz appeared at the corner of her phone screen with a helpful chiming noise. The startled yelp that burst from Amity's lips would have been embarrassing as hell if anyone had been around to hear it.

Thankfully, no one was.

Amity took a deep breath to slow her heartbeat back down to manageable levels and opened up her message history with Luz.

 **Luz** : Want to come hang out with me here at the shop for a while? There's 0 customers around. Come rescue me from boredom!

Amity felt her heart grow warm as she read the invitation and tried to push any feelings of guilt she may have had about her recent choice of reading material deep, deep down to the back of her mind.

 **Me** : I'd love to but I've got organic chem at 2.

 **Luz** : Are you going back in time to attend it twice? It was 4 last time I checked.

Amity's eyes shot to the clock on her phone and she winced as she realized that Luz was right. It was actually closer to 5 if anything.

In Amity's defense, she had been reading quite a few of Luz's stories just now and she seemed to have somehow completely lost track of the time.

 **Me** : I guess I got distracted doing homework and didn't notice.

 **Luz** : Happens to the best of us. So are you going to come keep me company or what?

Amity deliberated. She hadn't ever actually been to the building where Luz worked and lived before, though she knew that part of town from having to drive past it while doing errands.

She was certainly curious about the possibility of getting to spend time with Luz outside of school though, which they had not had a chance to do just yet.

 **Luz** : If you come help me fight off the boredom I'll make you dinner after closing time – how's that sound for a bribe?

 **Me** : What, like ordering a pizza or something?

 **Luz** : No, like an actual hot meal cooked in pans on a stove and not grabbed from a drive through line. I wouldn't try and cheat you here. Dinner means dinner.

Amity grinned and any objections her mind might have made about all of the piles of homework from her overstuffed class schedule faded away in an instant.

After so many weeks of living almost entirely off of takeout food and microwave meals the thought of an actual home cooked dinner sounded far too tempting to pass up.

 **Me** : Alright, send me the address and I'll be there soon.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Amity's time watching over the shop with Luz had mostly consisted of the two of them poking around the various heaps of merchandise strewn around the store and trying to out-do each other by finding the weirdest thing available for sale.

Luz had held the lead for a while with a badly airbrushed t-shirt of a pug dog who's wide spaced eyes seemed to follow you around the room wherever you went, but Amity countered her with a small bone-colored statue of unknown material that looked vaguely like a mermaid with large, hollow eye sockets, a knowing smile on its delicate lips and a skirt-like arrangement of octopus tentacles instead of a fishes tail.

“Where did you say that your boss found all this stuff?” Amity had asked as she turned the statue about in her hands, trying in vain to find some sort of manufacturers mark or copyright logo to make it seem less creepy.

“Eda picks it up from all over the place – estate sales, storage locker auctions and sometimes she gets some neat stuff on her 'expeditions',” Luz said.

“What, like she takes trips to other countries to look for this stuff?” Amity asked as she set the statue back down on the shelf where she had found it and then firmly turned it away so that it's empty stare was no longer facing toward her.

“Nah, 'going on an expedition' is just what Eda calls it when she breaks into abandoned buildings to look for weird junk that people left behind,” Luz said.

Amity's eyebrows shot up at that.

“That sounds pretty dangerous,” she said.

“Well, we haven't been caught yet,” Luz said.

“You go along on them too?” Amity asked in surprise.

“Not on _all_ of them – but sometimes Eda says that she needs a hand and Eda never really likes asking for help unless she has no other option,” Luz said with a shrug.

“Aren't you worried about what would happen if you do get caught?” Amity asked.

“Terrified,” Luz admitted, “but Eda says that a little terror helps build character, and she's got more character than practically anyone else I've met so she probably knows what she's talking about.”

Amity had a few thoughts about Eda at that moment that she decided to keep to herself after she considered the tone of admiration that came into Luz's voice whenever she talked about the older woman.

Questionable collection methods or not, Amity did have to admit that the shop was a fascinating place to browse through.

Occasionally worrying as well.

The bloodstained Ouija board contained behind a case of double-thickness glass labeled with an “EXTREMELY CURSED!” sticker had given Amity pause in particular, but Luz confided in her that this was actually the third such board that they'd had for sale since she had first come to stay with Eda at the start of the semester.

In fact, Luz had been the one to paint the stains on this specific board, and she was proud of the artistic splatter pattern she had achieved around the hint of bloody finger prints on the corner.

Amity had to give her credit – it was very convincing looking.

The pair weren't interrupted from their time-killing activities by any customers interested in purchasing second-hand furniture or allegedly haunted appliances at criminally marked up prices, and Luz was able to lock up the building for the night without any incidents.

Amity followed Luz to the side of the building next to the glass windows of the storefront where a tall wooden door was set deep into the wall. In place of the usual peephole or window there was some sort of hideous decoration the size of a dinner plate shaped like an owls head, which Amity couldn't help but stare at.

Luz patted the pockets of her jeans with an annoyed expression.

“Crap, I can't find my house keys – can you ring the bell to see if Eda can let us in? I'll go and see if maybe they're still in the scooter,” she said.

Amity rolled her eyes at Luz's forgetfulness and pressed the buzzer set into the wall beside the door.

The glassy eyes of the tacky owl head on the door flared to life with burning orange light and it thrust itself out from the wood, its beak snapping open with a hideous shriek.

Amity jerked back in surprise and screamed as the head suddenly rotated itself upside down, the curved hook of its beak tearing at the air with a clicking sound.

“HOOTS THERE?” the owl-thing bellowed loudly in the most soul-crushingly annoying voice that Amity had ever heard in her life, before it's eyes grew dim and it retracted back into the door.

Amity's hand had flown to her mouth and she was still wild-eyed and panting when her ears registered the sound of Luz's voice.

She turned with a furious glare and saw that Luz was doubled over with her hands braced against her knees, tears streaming down her face as her body shook with uncontrollable laughter.

“Sorry... I'm really sorry,” Luz said in between gasping breaths, “I just... I couldn't help myself.”

“What the hell is this thing?” Amity demanded.

Luz half-straightened up, rubbing her aching stomach muscles with one hand and wiping the tears from her eyes with the other.

“That, my friend, is Hooty – I think it used to be from a line of old Halloween decorations that got discontinued for super obvious reasons. Eda had it wired up to replace the original doorbell a long time ago,” Luz said.

Amity's face twisted in confused disgust.

“Why one earth would she do that?” she asked.

Luz shrugged.

“She finds it hilarious instead of deeply upsetting like everyone else does. You actually handled it a lot better than when Eda pulled the same joke on me, I tried to punch it the first time it talked like that,” Luz said.

Amity shook her head.

“How can you live with having to hear its voice anytime someone presses the doorbell – its so _grating_ ,” she said in horrified fascination.

“You'd be surprised what a girl can adjust herself to for the sake of having a place to live where she doesn't have to pay rent,” Luz said, “Plus he's really good at discouraging annoying door-to-door people from coming around here more than once.”

Luz, to Amity's complete lack of surprise, actually did have the keys to the door in her pocket and she opened it to reveal a cramped room dominated by a large concrete staircase that lead up to the apartment above. A battered looking aluminum baseball bat stood propped against the wall near the front door.

“Security system,” Luz said as she jerked her head toward the bat to forestall Amity's question.

“Ah,” Amity said, at a loss for words.

Amity's first impression as she climbed the stairs and entered the apartment was that it seemed to be an extension of the uncontrolled chaos of the store below, but as she looked more closely at the room around her that impression shifted subtly.

It was true that the furniture in the small living room was in a wild variety of styles, but the clashing couches and seats seemed decently cared for and chosen for their obvious comfort.

The shelves lining the walls were crowded with a bewildering assortment of unusual ornaments, but they were neatly arranged and free of dust.

The mismatched pair of bookshelves positioned against the wall groaned under the weight of a number of leather bound volumes and Amity blinked several times as she realized that many of the books, if they were as old as they appeared to be, were probably quite valuable. She could recognize a few of them as being from the same edition as titles that she had seen in the library at Blight Manor – the difference was that these looked like they had all been read at some point and not just put up for decoration.

Framed pictures of various people were scattered across the wall – Amity spotted one of what looked like a much younger Luz being hugged from behind by someone who could only be her mother. The pair were beaming an almost identical smile at the camera and Amity felt a small smile of her own tug up at the corner of her mouth in reflex.

“What a... unique place,” Amity said at last, all other available adjectives not quite doing justice to her feelings about the room.

“Yeah, it's pretty great right?” Luz grinned, “I'd introduce you to Eda, but she's out for the night. Probably playing cards with her friends if my guess is correct. That's her right there,”

At that Luz pointed at a trio of photographs which hung in a place of pride in an ornate golden frame, showing a lean, handsome looking woman with sharp eyes and an enormous mane of grey hair framing her face.

Amity squinted and then did an actual double-take.

“Who frames their own mugshot?” Amity wondered out loud.

Luz shrugged.

“She said they really captured her good side – plus she got that one from being arrested at a protest and wanted a souvenir to remember the occasion,” she said.

“When you say 'that one'...” Amity began.

Luz scratched her arm lightly and a sheepish expression crossed her face.

“I'd be lying if I told you that this was Eda's first mugshot,” Luz said, “She's not a big fan of authority. She always says that if you don't stick up for yourself you won't ever get anywhere in life – you can't wait for someone else to fight your battles for you.”

Amity considered those words and looked around the room once again.

“I think I really would like to meet her sometime,” she said, and she was startled with herself as she realized that it was true and not just a polite lie.

“Something for another day – if you survive my cooking tonight that is,” Luz said.

“I should be fine, I'm a Blight- we thrive on poison,” Amity declared airily.

“Is that what you guys have written on your family crest?” Luz teased.

Amity shrugged.

“Maybe – it's some Latin phrase and I never bothered to ask what the translation was,” she replied.

Luz's jaw dropped.

“Wait Amity, do you _actually_ have a family crest?” she asked.

Amity waved the question aside.

“Not important,” she declared, “Not when there was all that talk of bribing me with dinner earlier.”

Luz squinted at Amity.

“Okay, okay – I'll go whip up something for us to eat, but we're talking about this later,” she warned as she backed off toward the kitchen with an admonishing finger pointed directly at Amity the whole time.

“Should I just email you the family genealogy and save us both some time?” Amity called out.

There was no response from Luz, but there was the sound of bowls and pans being shifted around in the nearby kitchen and Luz humming a vaguely familiar tune that Amity eventually realized was the theme song to one of the direct-to-dvd Azura movies.

Amity reached into her bag and pulled out a textbook – it wouldn't hurt for her to try and use the time productively to catch up on some of her homework since she wouldn't be of much use to Luz in the kitchen.

She was still buried somewhere deep in a pile of calculus when the smell of food drifting in from the kitchen reminded Amity that she hadn't eaten anything in hours. She abandoned her work on the garishly painted coffee table and entered the kitchen just in time to see Luz pouring two generous helpings of something hot and savory smelling into a pair of ceramic bowls adorned with a beautiful blue glazed geometric pattern around the rim.

“That smells amazing,” Amity said, “What is it?”

Luz beamed with pride as she set the bowls down on the dining room table.

“Pasta fagioli, a la Luz,” she declared as she sat down and pulled a bowl to herself.

Amity took her own seat at the table across from Luz and stirred her bowl of the thick pasta, bean and vegetable soup a few times to cool it down.

“What makes it a-la-Luz?” she asked before she blew on a spoonful and popped it into her mouth.

“My secret spice blend of course,” Luz said in between spoonfuls as she dug into her own bowl with gusto.

The sharp flavors of cumin, spicy ginger and hot red pepper flakes wormed their way up into Amity's sinuses as she chewed on her mouthful.

“It's really good,” Amity said honestly once she had swallowed that first bite, barely managing to keep the tears from reaching her eyes through sheer force of will.

Luz turned and saw Amity's expression as she continued stirring her bowl furiously without scooping out a second spoonful.

“Would you want me to bring you a glass of water?” she asked.

“Yes, very much please, thank you,” Amity said with an obvious sense of relief.

The rest of the meal proved pleasant but fairly uneventful, and Amity was content to listen to Luz describe her numerous experiments at creating Italian-Dominican fusion cuisine, with their current meal being the most successful attempt to date.

Amity agreed that it really was an extremely tasty soup, even if her regular diet hadn't prepared her for the experience of quite this many strong flavors hitting her all at once. It felt a bit like being lovingly punched in the face by a spice rack.

When the meal was done and the pair had made sure that the dishes were washed and put away, Luz had turned to Amity with an expression on her face that Amity had learned to recognize. The one Luz always made when she had a question that she wanted to ask, but it was just hovering on the tip of her tongue and she couldn't quite get it out.

“Whats up?” Amity asked.

Luz's lips flickered briefly up in a grateful smile to Amity for providing the opening.

“Well, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to keep hanging out and watch a movie together or something? It's still pretty early and it seems a shame to just call it a night already,” Luz said.

Amity thought back to the calculus homework still sitting uncompleted in the living room, along with the staggering number of other assignments which were waiting for her attention. She frowned in disappointment and turned to Luz to say that she was too busy today and then caught the faintest hints of a blush on her friends face which made her spice-numbed mouth go dry.

“Yeah, a movie sounds great,” Amity declared, feeling as though the words had been pulled straight from her gut and bypassed her brain entirely.

The tension in Luz's shoulders which Amity hadn't noticed until now relaxed instantly and she grinned with unconcealed happiness.

“There's no TV in the living room, but we could go up to my room and use my laptop,” Luz said, “I've got that Crystal Ball streaming app on it and that has tons of movies.”

 _Oh, how nice – I'm going to get to see Luz's room right now_ , Amity thought with agonizingly forced calm, _that sounds like fun._

Amity followed her friend up the stairs to Luz's attic room, certain that if her heart started to beat any harder that it would jackhammer its way out from her rib-cage and run off screaming into the night.

 _Of_ _course_ _it_ _would_ _have to be the day that I decided to spend god knows how long reading my way through Luz's collection of disturbingly addictive smut fics that I'd also be finding myself alone with her in her room for the first time ever and now my stupid imagination is going way out of bounds and she has no idea about any of that and if she ever did find out I think that I would literally die_ , Amity thought, not even bothering to try and edit herself this time.

Luz's room was small, Amity was sure that the closet back in her old room at Blight Manor had more square footage, but it seemed cosy. It was dominated by a full sized bed pushed up against the back wall below an arch shaped window set with panes of colored glass. There was a small dresser and a chest of drawers positioned against the walls so that there would still be a comfortable amount of room to move around the floor without banging into anything. Paintings done on canvas panels were hung all over the walls – Amity recognized that some were renditions of characters from the Azura books or various other fantasy movies and games, while the rest seemed to be of real people. She recognized one as being an excellent likeness of Luz's mother from the photograph downstairs. There were also several paintings of a sweetly smiling girl and cheerful looking young man that she assumed must be the famous Willow and Gus that Luz was always telling her about.

Luz had been busy digging her laptop out from beneath the bed and setting it up at the foot of the bed while Amity had been examining the room. The desktop of Luz's computer was possibly the messiest that Amity had ever seen, cluttered with so many icons that the background image was no longer visible – the sight set Amity's teeth on edge. Her eyes were subconsciously drawn to the icon of a text file near the corner of the screen and with a start she realized that it was labeled ' _A Touch of Magic_ '.

Sweat began to bead on Amity's forehead as a few choice scenes from that story flashed through her mind in the blink of an eye.

Luz turned back to Amity once the laptops screen was loading up the familiar blue logo of the Crystal Ball app.

“I'm sorry if its kind of cramped in here – there's not a lot of sitting room,” she said, “We could probably fit on the bed though and watch the movie like this – I do it all the time.”

Luz stepped up onto the bed and then rolled over onto her stomach with her head propped up in her hands. She patted the space beside her and gave Amity an apologetic, yet hopeful smile.

The logical part of Amity's mind was about to point out to Luz that they could easily carry the laptop down to the living room and watch the movie on the spacious couch.

Every other part of Amity's mind ganged up on that logical part before it could open her mouth and then savagely beat it into unconsciousness.

“The bed is fine,” Amity said as nonchalantly as possible while she climbed up next to Luz and adopted a similar pose.

They scrolled down through the list of movies.

“Well, you're my guest right now – what would you like to watch?” Luz asked.

Amity, finding herself somewhat distracted, made a noncommittal noise in her throat.

Luz shrugged and kept scrolling.

“Well let me know if you see anything that looks good,” she said.

Amity, who had been looking right at Luz's face as she said that, turned quickly back to the screen with a blush before she could blurt out what had come to mind.

“Oh hey – its one of those purple things from the cover of that book you were reading last week!” Luz said as she pointed at one of the movie-poster icons on the screen.

Amity turned back to Luz with an incredulous look on her face.

“Are you seriously telling me that you've never seen one of the Abomination movies before?” she asked.

Luz shook her head.

“I don't really watch a lot of horror movies,” she confessed with a half-shrug.

“These aren't just horror movies Luz, they are classics – though the older ones were much more faithful adaptations of the books than the reboot that came out last year,” Amity said.

“Would you want to put that one on then?” Luz asked.

Amity hesitated.

“Are you sure?” she asked, “I wouldn't want to feel like I was forcing you if you don't really like horror movies.”

Luz scoffed and rolled her eyes at that.

“I'm sure I can handle it – I'm not a baby,” she said.

Amity reached out for the laptops touchpad and scrolled through the list to see which parts of the movie series they had available.

“I'll just put on the first one then – its not as scary as the others since the special effects aren't super great,” Amity said.

“Bring it on,” Luz said excitedly.

Amity was learning that Luz had a near endless supply of vastly misplaced confidence about certain things. Apparently her tolerance for jump-scares and extremely cheesy fake blood was one of them.

When the Abomination had first risen in all of its goopy purple glory from where the hapless teens had awakened it in the haunted chemical factory Luz had wriggled herself so close to Amity that she could practically feel her body heat radiating off of her.

When the lurching monster had unexpectedly popped up from behind the clueless jock character and then engulfed him in a tide of flesh-melting violet acid, Luz had frantically thrown her arms around Amity and buried her face into her shoulder, muffling a scream through compressed lips.

Amity had put her own arm gingerly around Luz's shoulders and awkwardly patted her with a strangled, “There there,” in response.

Her own heart was slamming its way around her chest like a rubber ball bouncing in a small room, and she knew without a doubt that it had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on in the film.

Luz's fingernails dug deep crescents into Amity's skin as the Abomination continued racking up its body-count of horror movie stock characters, but despite the pain she couldn't help but wish that this moment would last forever.

Nothing lasts forever though unfortunately, and as the Abomination was burned to a pile of ash by the triumphant final girl character Amity patted Luz gently on the shoulder.

“It's over now,” she said, her voice slightly breathy from the bone-crushing hold that Luz had on her torso.

Luz pulled her face away from where it had been crushed up tight against Amity's chest and she saw the credits scrolling down the screen.

“So it is,” she said in a dazed whisper.

Luz glanced up and saw how close Amity's face was to her own and with a start she realized that she was practically wrapped all around her friends body like a terrified blanket.

She gave a noise of surprise, awkwardly untangled herself from Amity and then rolled off to the side of the bed.

“So that was the least scary one, huh?” Luz asked with a shiver.

Amity tamped down on her immediate instinct to grab Luz and pull her back close so she could feel her warm body pressed up against her once again.

“Yeah – it's actually kind of goofy,” Amity said, “Now _Abomination III: the Revenge_ is an actually scary one. Even I still get freaked out when I watch it, and I've seen it so many times now.”

“Well... that was definitely an experience,” Luz said, turning toward Amity with an uncertain look in her eyes.

She looked like she wanted to say something more, but she hesitated and dropped her eyes and then looked back up at Amity with a steady, determined gaze.

Amity swallowed heavily and her eyes drifted down to the soft curve of Luz's ever so slightly parted lips.

_If I were to... would she... could we..._

Her head felt fuzzy, and anything even resembling coherent thought was just frustratingly beyond Amity's reach right now. She leaned in a little closer toward Luz and some rational part of her brain that had managed to retain its function noticed that Luz wasn't backing away as she did.

_Maybe she also..._

The still calm of the night air was was shattered by a voice like serial-killer Mickey Mouse screaming “Hoots there?” from the street below, followed by a loud, cackling laugh in response.

Luz jerked her head toward the window in surprise.

“Oh, I guess Eda's home early!” she said in a manic voice, turning back toward Amity with a stiff death-mask grin stretched across her face.

Amity shot to her feet off the side of the bed and bit back the urge to scream in frustration.

“I should probably get going,” she said quickly, “I've got an unreasonable amount of homework to catch up on.”

Luz's face was scrunched up in an annoyed pout.

“Sure, let me walk you out,” she muttered.

Eda was stretched across the living room couch and gently snoring as Amity gathered up her things from the coffee table. Amity knew it was irrational but she couldn't stop herself from shooting a glare at the sleeping woman.

She followed Luz down the stairs and they paused outside the building by the wooden door for a slightly too-long moment.

“Thanks for coming to keep me company today,” Luz said, breaking the silence.

Amity shrugged awkwardly in response.

“Thanks for inviting me over and making us dinner – I had a really good time,” she said.

Luz gave her a smile and Amity thought she could see, or maybe just wished that she could see, a hint of shyness on her friends face.

“Would you maybe want to come over again sometime?” she asked.

Amity cleared her throat and nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds great – or maybe I could show you my place next time,” she offered.

Luz nodded quickly.

“Yeah, I'd love to see it too,” she said.

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

“Goodnight,” Luz squeaked and then shuffled back through the door.

Amity stood outside of the door for some time until she was sure she could no longer hear the sound of Luz's footsteps on the stairs.

She leaned in close to the door and pointed a furious finger at the animatronic owl head which stared back at her in blank incomprehension.

“I fucking hate you so much,” she hissed at it quietly, before she turned away and stalked off toward her car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter turned out to be kind of a long one... but hopefully eventful enough to be worth it! If anyone has any questions or comments about the fic or this AU feel free.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Objectively speaking it was a beautiful morning.

The autumn air was crisp but not cold and the rising sun had wrapped the land in a blanket of rose gold light that gave the scenery an otherworldly glow. The ground was also ankle deep in a bank of gently dissipating fog which served to soften the edges of Bonesborough, transforming it into the perfect stage setting for a fairytale fantasy.

It was the kind of sight that might have inspired a poet to jot down a few quick lines about beauty, tranquility or the quiet joy of being able to experience one of life's all-too-rare moments of pure perfection.

None of this changed the fact that Luz Noceda was in Hell.

The facilities of the Hexside University athletics field and running track had a policy which left them generously open for the use of any student as long as no classes or events were currently in need of its resources.

Unsurprisingly, there were neither classes nor track and field events scheduled at six o'clock in the morning.

This served as an explanation for _how_ Luz had found herself jogging around the gritty red surface of the running track that morning alongside Amity Blight. If she had been asked _why_ she was doing this, however, Luz would not have been able to explain it to anyone who wasn't also currently suffering from a massive crush and thus able to understand just how badly it could warp a person's common sense.

 _Is this my punishment for never learning how to actually flirt properly?,_ Luz thought to herself as jolts of agony sparked their way up from her heels to her thighs with each new step.

"Are you sure that you're doing okay Luz?" Amity asked in a voice laced with concern, "We can go a little slower if you'd like."

Luz bit her lip, and tried not to gasp as the newly formed stitch in her side traced a lightning flash of pain throughout the right half of her torso.

"You going soft on me, Blight?" Luz panted in her best attempt at a confident tone, "I'm not going to fall apart just from a little jogging."

"I'm just worried about you - we're still only on the second lap and you already look like death itself," Amity pointed out.

 _How many laps are we going to be doing? This track is already stupidly huge as it is!,_ Luz thought in swiftly mounting horror.

"Maybe going a little less incredibly fast might not be so bad," Luz admitted, "If you don't mind me slowing you down that is."

Amity reduced her speed to something more manageable for a non-athlete and Luz tried to keep the overwhelming relief that she felt from showing on her face.

"I'm still surprised you wanted to come out with me on a run after how you reacted last time I asked," Amity said, "What made you change your mind?"

“Oh, you know... good reasons,” Luz wheezed out evasively.

There was a moment of awkward silence following that bizarre non-answer, and Luz was grateful that Amity chose not to ask her to expand on the topic.

"So, I've been meaning to ask for a while,” Amity said in a sudden haste to change the subject, “Is that Eda lady you live with like, your aunt or something?”

"It's kind of a long story... it's more like she's my mentor I guess?” Luz answered, happy for a chance to think about something other than the pain in her legs and lungs.

"Does that mean that you're an apprentice... what's the term for what she does exactly? Salvager? Antiquarian? Junk salesperson?” Amity asked.

"Mentor is just kind of the best fit I can think of for our relationship – I don't know what else to call her. She helped me out through some tough times when I was a kid and took care of me even though we weren't related or anything... and she's always trying to teach me stuff that she calls her 'life-lessons',” Luz replied.

“Like how to loot abandoned buildings for things to sell?” Amity asked.

“That's more of a life-skill,” Luz said, “the lesson part would be like learning to look for treasure in unexpected places.”

“And also how to avoid the cops while you do it,” Amity added.

“Avoiding the cops is just common sense no matter what the situation is,” Luz pointed out.

Even with the reduced pace, Luz found it increasingly difficult to keep up with Amity the longer they ran. By the start of the third lap talking had become impossible for her beyond short one-syllable replies to Amity's questions. By the end of the fourth lap the stitch in Luz's side had expanded into something that felt like a wound gouged into her body, and each step she took jolted it a little more painfully than the last.

That pain, combined with the light-headed feeling caused by her machine-gun fast rhythm of shallow breaths was also making her incredibly nauseous.

 _I may not be an expert at the non-shipping type of romance but I'm pretty sure that throwing up in front of your crush isn't considered a super suave move_ , Luz thought as they rounded the bend of the running track.

"I think I need a little break," she declared in a shaky voice.

Luz staggered away from the track and slumped down on the lush green grass growing in the center of the field, sucking in deep lungfuls of air as she tried to focus on a way to stop her head from spinning.

It was almost a minute before Luz realized that Amity was crouching down beside her and running a comforting hand across her back and shoulders.

Luz glanced up and saw a concern almost bordering on panic written plain on Amity's features.

"I'm so so sorry Luz! I forgot that you were a beginner- I shouldn't have pushed you this hard," she said in a worried voice.

Luz shook her head automatically and then immediately regretted it. She grit her teeth and counted backwards from ten until the sudden surge of nausea had passed.

"It's okay," she said, "It's my fault for trying to keep up with a jock like you when I'm so out of shape in the first place."

"Do you want me to go get you some water or something?" Amity asked.

Luz drew in a deep, slow breath and shook her head more carefully this time.

"No, don't worry about me. You should go and finish your run - I'd feel bad if I made you cut your normal workout short for my sake," she said.

"Are you sure?" Amity asked.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I just need to rest for a little while here on this nice soft grass," Luz said.

Amity didn't look quite convinced, but she returned to the track after Luz wouldn't stop waving her away with clumsy shooing motions of her hands. She turned a final glance Luz's way, gave a small nod to herself and then began to jog. Amity's pace was slow at first, but her speed gradually increased with each step until she was flying across the track at a pace Luz knew that she couldn't have hoped to match even when she was feeling fully rested and energized.

As Luz's heart rate slowly faded back down to its normal rhythm and the pain in her side faded she found herself in a better frame of mind to appreciate her surroundings.

It really was a beautiful morning.

Her eyes followed Amity across the great oval of the track, admiring her graceful stride and impressive speed as she ran on for several more laps. She felt a fond smile tug up at the corner of her lips at the sight of Amity's chestnut-brown ponytail bouncing along in counterpoint to her steps.

Luz had lost track of how many laps Amity had taken before her pace slowed back to a walk once more. However many it was, it had seemed like just the right amount to have finally tired even Amity out. Luz could see the beads of sweat glistening against her pale skin in the morning light like a spray of stars as she walked off the track and toward the spot where Luz sat sprawled in a boneless pile on the grassy field.

 _God she's so pretty_ , Luz thought.

Amity, apparently overheated from her run, then unzipped the jacket of her dark purple track suit and shucked it off to reveal the short black tank top she wore underneath as well as her bare midriff which Luz had never seen until now.

Luz's brain abruptly crashed and then began a frantic attempt to reboot itself.

The sight of Amity striding toward her while the firm, flat plane of her stomach was bathed in the morning light which cast faint shadows over the hint of revealed muscle acted like a live powerline plugged directly into Luz's libido.

_Oh wow... I guess Amity kind of has some nice abs too, huh... hello there Amity's abs, its great to meet you..._

"How are you feeling now?" Amity asked, "You still look a little dazed."

 _I wonder if there's some way I could ask to touch them without looking like the world's biggest creep?_ , Luz wondered before she viciously stamped the question from her mind.

"I'm doing a lot better Absity-"

_SHIT!_

"-AMITY! Amity was what I said," she corrected hastily before adding, "I'm good, yes. Everything's all good here, how are you?"

Amity cocked her head at Luz, as if she were still assessing her for some unseen injury caused by the run. Possibly to her brain by the looks of things.

"I'm fine - I always feel great after my morning run," she said.

 _You look great after it too_.

She saw Amity's face flush red and her eyes glanced off to the side.

"Thanks," Amity said with a short nervous laugh, "but I'm pretty sure I actually look like a sweaty mess."

_Oh crapcrapcrap, did I say that out loud?_

_I did didn't I?_

_Luz what are you doing!_

"No, no no - you look super... um... healthy!" Luz said quickly, "Like an advertisement for a gym or some kind of sexy warrior lady or something-"

_Ah! No! Bad Luz!_

"-ANYWAY... um... I don't think I ended up looking so great on the run myself. I probably wouldn't have made the cut for your old soccer team, huh?" Luz asked in a tone of manic cheerfulness.

Amity tilted her head back in thought.

"Well, you managed to run almost a mile before you had to stop - so it's not the worst foundation to build on," she said.

"I'm guessing that the building-up part would have involved more running?" Luz asked.

"A lot more to start with, yeah," Amity said with a nod.

"Maybe I would have just stuck with providing moral support instead. Do soccer games have cheerleaders?" she asked.

Amity barked out a surprised laugh at the question.

"Somehow I can't really picture you doing that," she said.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I did try out for cheerleading when I was in high school," Luz said in an offended tone.

"Wait, really?" Amity asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah," Luz said, and then she winced as the memory of that day returned fresh and sharp in her mind, "It... it didn't go well."

"What made you want to try out for that anyway? I can't really picture you as the cheerleading type," Amity said.

Luz shrugged, glad for the distraction that memories of her adolescent awkwardness provided from her more immediate feelings of Amity-induced awkwardness.

"I tried out for all the big high school stuff that I'd always seen in TV shows and movies - cheerleading, the school play, sports teams, clubs; the whole nine yards," she said, "It had seemed like it might have been a good way to make friends."

"Oh," Amity said.

"Yeah, it didn't work though," Luz said with a lightning quick flicker of a forced smile, "I never really was a good fit for any of them."

"Well, I would be happy to have you cheering for me if I ever end up in a game again somehow," Amity said.

"Like if aliens kidnapped you and forced you to play a soccer tournament against them for the fate of the Earth?" Luz asked.

"That's a weirdly specific example, but sure," Amity replied with a shrug.

Luz decided not to mention that it had been an important story arc in an anime she had loved watching in junior high.

"I still feel kind of pathetic for how badly I did on the run though," Luz said.

"You shouldn't feel bad - everyone has to start somewhere," Amity said.

"Yeah. I think that I really need to see about getting in better shape," Luz said.

"Would you want to join me here for running more often then?" Amity asked.

Luz quickly shook her head.

"No! No, I think something this intense might be a bit too much for me right now - especially if we do it this early in the morning," Luz said, "Isn't there something more fun that we could do together to work up a sweat instead?"

Luz's mind took a second to catch up with her ears and she realized what she had just asked.

"Like a game we could play or something! Like... uh... ping-pong?" she blurted out quickly.

Amity gulped and her eyes darted off to the side and away from Luz's face.

"I could probably think up a few things we could try, sure," Amity said with a faraway look in her eyes.

_Way to go Luz, just keep on creeping out the only friend who lives within a hundred miles of you until you creep her right out of your life why don't you?_

"So, um... are we done here with the running?" Luz asked to fill in the silence that had sprang up.

"Huh? Oh, yes!" Amity said, pulling herself away from whatever thoughts had been occupying her mind at the time, "How about you let me buy you some breakfast to make up for that whole nearly-running-you-to-death thing earlier?"

Luz suddenly realized just how hungry she had been feeling and smiled up at Amity in gratitude.

"I'd like that - thanks," she said as she rose to her feet on still-shaky legs and brushed the stray blades of grass from her clothing.

"Well, I have to bribe you with something if I ever want you to come back on a run with me again," Amity said with a nervous laugh.

Luz's mind flashed with a sudden thought of far more tempting bribes that Amity could have offered, but pinched herself sharply in the thigh to snap herself out of it.

"Can't beat a free meal as a bribe, I always say," Luz agreed with a forced chuckle as she followed Amity back to her car.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Well, that definitely could have gone better," Luz muttered to herself as she lay back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling, reflecting on the events of the morning once again.

The arch shaped window beside her bed was slightly open, but the cool breeze of the night air wasn't doing much to calm Luz's nerves.

She tried not to think about how sore her legs were feeling, but of course that only made her even more aware of the various aches and twinges which threaded their way through her muscles.

Her earlier attempt to distract herself had been a total failure.

When Luz had loaded up Crystal Ball to re-watch an old animated favorite from her childhood she had seen the icon for _The Abomination_ prominently displayed as the last movie watched on the account. She had exited out from the app immediately, her face flushed red as the memories of _that_ night washed over her for what felt like the thousandth time.

King had watched her from his perch on top of her chest of drawers - the expression in his green eyes seemed both aloof and wise, but Luz knew he was probably just thinking about food again.

“Don't you judge me,” she had said to the cat, “I'd like to see you try and get a girlfriend sometime.”

The cat didn't deign to reply to Luz's question, though he did begin to wash one of his front paws in what she felt was a fairly dismissive manner.

_I need to do something to put an end to this whole situation soon. My self-confidence has crashed so hard that I'm starting to feel bullied by a house pet._

She squeezed her eyes shut almost painfully tight as she remembered that night a week ago when Amity had been right here in her room, in her _bed_ , and she hadn't been able to bring herself to do anything about it.

Not that she had been wanting to do anything extreme that night of course... well, not super extreme anyway... but she hadn't even been able to get as far as telling Amity how she felt about her in the first place.

It had been one of the most wonderful nights that Luz could remember but in the whole week since then, to Luz's continuing frustration, nothing had changed between them.

No, that wasn't totally true.

Things had become... brittle.

The easy camaraderie that Luz and Amity had slowly built up over a month of intense critique sessions in their writing classes, shared lunches on campus and hours of late night texting had acquired a layer of awkwardness to it.

Amity was practically treating Luz like an unexploded bomb now - her laughs were a little too shaky and her eyes often darted around the room as if she were always assessing potential escape routes. Even her taunts and mocking jibes when they were messing with each other seemed a little off somehow.

Luz grimaced at that thought, but she shook her head to try and clear away at the gloom.

_She obviously can't be THAT uncomfortable with me since she hasn't actually been trying to avoid me. We've hung out plenty of times this week and we do still text each other everyday._

Still, something was definitely off and Luz had felt a dull ache in her chest at the fear of watching her newest friendship disintegrate right before her eyes because she was feeling too awkward to try and tackle the issue of her emotions for Amity head on.

The familiar chime of her phone rang out, and Luz fished it out from her pocket.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So how did things go with Amity today?

Luz groaned and briefly debated not answering Willow right away, but decided against it. Putting this particular conversation off wouldn't make it any easier.

 **Me** : Not quite according to plan

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Did you get rejected? Are you ok? Do I need to slash some tires?

 **Me** : I wasn't REJECTED exactly

 **Me** : Also, don't slash Amity's tires even if I do get turned down – she's nice

 **WILLOWthewisp** : No promises

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So, what happened?

 **Me** : Well, you know how I told you I was going to ask Amity out the other day

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Yes, that is literally what I asked you about in that first text

 **Me** : I asked her out

 **Me** : On a morning run around the school jogging track together

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Luz

 **WILLOWthewisp** : WHY?

 **Me** : I PANICKED!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Clearly

 **Me** : Why is this so hard to do? How has anyone ever managed to actually get a girlfriend???

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Maybe it wasn't a total loss

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Do you think you were able to get a little closer to her after the run at least?

Luz considered the question for a full minute before typing in her answer.

 **Me** : Well

 **Me** : First I embarrassed myself by quitting maybe a third of the way before she did

 **Me** : Because everything hurt and I thought I was going to barf

 **Me** : And then I couldn't stop staring at her abs after that

 **Me** : So probably not

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Wow

 **Me** : Yeah yeah I know, I suck

 **Me** : Tell me something I don't know

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Hey, I never said you suck. You're just not great at some things

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Asking out girls is just one of those things

 **Me** : I'd kill to be “not great” at it

 **Me** : That would be a huge upgrade

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Honestly I'm still kind of surprised by this whole situation

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Rushing head first into stuff without considering the consequences has kind of been your whole deal for as long as I've known you

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Why the sudden hesitation now?

 **Me** : I don't know

 **Me** : I just don't want to mess this up

 **Me** : And lately Amity has been acting nervous around me and that makes ME even more nervous so I just end up not knowing how to deal with it

 **Me** : Hopefully she'll feel a little less nervous now that she's seen me run and knows how easy I'd be to escape from

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Heh

 **Me** : What if she knows I like her and its freaking her out and she's trying to ignore it to not make things awkward?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Then its not working

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Because somehow I feel awkward about this whole situation and I'm not even there with you two

 **Me** : Right?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : What if she's just acting nervous because she actually likes you too and doesn't know how to act around you either?

 **Me** : Willow, I love you

 **Me** : But that is totally ridiculous

 **Me** : Amity is cool as a cucumber and always has her shit together, she'd never turn into a big goofy disaster over a crush like I do

 **Me** : Plus I don't even know if she likes girls in the first place

 **Me** : I know she liked an Azura/Hecate fic I wrote but that's not much evidence to go on

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Maybe you could try and find that out first?

 **Me** : Just casually ask her on a scale of 1 to 10 how gay she is?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : You could work it into more naturally into a conversation

 **WILLOWthewisp** : What if you trade funny stories about each others exes and relationships?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : If she mentions any ex-girlfriends that would probably be a good sign

 **Me** : The problem there is that I don't have any exes

 **WILLOWthewisp** : What about that one guy

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Never-something?

Luz groaned out loud at that memory in a pained voice, startling King from off his perch and sending him bounding out the door of her room.

 **Me** : Willow

 **Me** : Please never mention Nevareth again

 **WILLOWthewisp** : That was his name!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Nevareth Bladestrife, right?

 **Me** : That was NOT his name

 **Me** : That was his D&D character that he liked to dress up as for conventions

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I'm just saying if you want to have a funny story to share with Amity about a past relationship...

 **Me** : Making out with a guy at a party during Azura-Con ONE TIME is NOT a relationship!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : It was funny though

 **Me** : For you maybe

 **WILLOWthewisp** : You said he never broke character the whole time, right?

 **Me** : Uggggghhhhhhhh

 **WILLOWthewisp** : And he called you Lady Luz?

 **Me** : Yeah, that went from kind of charming to super off-putting real quick

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Anyway, just tell her that story and I'm sure she'll tell you anything you'd want to know about her own relationships

 **WILLOWthewisp** : There's no way that any of them could be more embarrassing than that

 **Me** : I'd rather not try to humiliate my way into Amity's heart, thank you

 **Me** : Enough about me for now – how are things going with the roommate situation?

There was a long pause before Luz heard her phone chime with Willow's reply.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Oh you know

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Fucking horrible

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I'm considering my options

 **Me** : Trading dorm rooms?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : No, homicide

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Because no one would want to trade rooms to live with my nightmare of a roommate

 **Me** : Maybe we should consider a few more options first before jumping straight to a violent felony?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Luz, you don't know what it's like

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She was made by a mad scientist in a lab somewhere who stitched together pieces from all of the most unbelievable mean girl stereotypes ever to create one unstoppable super-bitch

 **Me** : Willow – language! You'd make your dads cry if they could hear you right now

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She's just the WORST though!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She keeps trying to boss me around like I'm her maid or something instead of someone that got stuck with her in the dorm room lottery

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She never shuts up, always acts super condescending about absolutely everything even though she is dumb as hell and it is taking every bit of willpower I have to not pick her up and throw her out the window

 **Me** : I don't suppose talking to her about boundaries and respect would be helpful?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : That would require her to actually be capable of listening to another person

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So, no

 **Me** : I'm sorry you've got to deal with all that

 **Me** : But please try not to kill your roommate if you can help it

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I'm going to do my best

 **WILLOWthewisp** : But if Boscha doesn't start giving me some space real soon I'm going to put her in a headlock and feed her that stupid soccer ball she's always messing with

Luz raised her eyebrows in surprise and tried to imagine what kind of person could have driven her normally gentle friend to this level of frustration.

 **Me** : Good luck

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Thanks

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Are you going to stop being a big dork and just tell Amity how you feel already?

There was a long pause before Luz could bring herself to answer.

 **Me** : Yes

 **Me** : I'm going to tell her tomorrow for sure

 **WILLOWthewisp** : There's the Luz I know!

 **Me** : So what if things are a little awkward with us right now?

 **Me** : I've always been awkward and it never stopped me before

 **WILLOWthewisp** : That's the spirit

 **Me** : And even if she turns me down I'm sure our friendship is strong enough to overcome something like that

 **WILLOWthewisp** : And if not I can always slash her tires

 **Me** : No! Bad Willow!

 **Me** : Why has that become your answer for everything lately

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I may or may not have already slashed Boscha's tires earlier today after she broke one of my succulents while practicing a soccer trick in the kitchen

 **WILLOWthewisp** : It was kind of a rush

 **Me** : Wow

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Turns out movies have been lying to us, revenge feels great!

“College can really change a person, huh?” Luz mused aloud to herself.

She rolled onto her side and gazed out the open window, watching the silver banks of clouds drift across the moon to cast their long shadows over the night below.

Tomorrow she was definitely going to tell Amity Blight how she felt.

No matter what.

  
  


* * *

  
  


**calAMITY** : Hey, I'm here. Let me in.

 **Me** : Already? I didn't hear the doorbell ring

 **calAMITY** : I am not touching that stupid owl thing ever again Luz

 **Me** : Fair enough, I'll be down in a second.

Luz blew out a deep breath and hopped up from the bed where she had been idly trying to work on a new Azura fic on her laptop for the past hour. She hadn't been able to make much progress on the story despite her best efforts – she'd found herself far too distracted whenever she remembered that Amity was going to be visiting today.

Not to mention the fact that today was going to be the day that she finally told Amity how she felt. This time she wasn't going to make a complete mess of things – she was going to lay all her cards on the table and take whatever result that fate had in store for her.

Luz practically flew down the stairs and she felt her face split into an uncontrollable grin when she threw open the front door to let Amity in. Her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her.

Luz was used to seeing Amity on campus in fairly casual clothes; mostly long sleeved tops paired with leggings, and generally in dark colors like black, violet or navy blue.

She had become so accustomed to it that she'd started to think of it as Amity's look, the same way Luz preferred to wear her screen printed t-shirts and comfortably worn-in jeans around the school.

Amity looked very different today – her shoulder length hair was worn loose instead of in its usual ponytail, and it framed her face like a soft brown curtain. Her usual outfit and standard somewhat-goth color palette were nowhere to be seen; in their place was a ruffled short sleeved pink top with a loose collar and a long lavender skirt that hung down just past her knees.

“Are you going to let me in or are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day?” Amity asked as her face flushed a delicate shade of pink.

Luz realized that she had been standing there gaping like an idiot for far too long.

“Of course – yeah! Come in,” she said, “I guess I just wasn't used to seeing you like this.”

Amity shrugged with obviously feigned indifference.

“Sometimes I just like to dress up on the weekends for no reason,” she said airily.

“Yeah, me too,” Luz said with a nervous chuckle as she tugged at the too-tight collar of her nicest button up shirt.

It had taken her a long time to find it, along with her best pair of jeans, but Luz had felt a surge of confidence when she had checked herself out in the mirror earlier in preparation for her friends arrival. Looking at Amity now though, she couldn't help but feel underdressed by comparison.

Amity reached out to undo the topmost button of Luz's shirt from around her throat and gave her a small smile that sent a warm flutter through Luz's stomach.

“You never button the very top one unless you're wearing it with a tie,” Amity chided, “It looks good on you though.”

 _I'm so glad I didn't go with a t-shirt today,_ Luz thought.

Amity followed Luz into the building and up the stairs. The two passed right through the living room and toward the second set of stairs that lead up to Luz's room as if by unspoken agreement.

“I'm glad you could find a few homework free moments to hang out today,” Luz said as Amity entered her room.

“Me too, it's been kind of a stressful week,” she replied.

“Tell me about it,” Luz agreed.

“Plus you said you had something important that you needed to ask me in person, so I just had to see what that was all about,” Amity said, reaching up to brush a stray strand of hair back around her ear.

Luz gulped.

“Right! Yes... I was going to ask you if you might want to... um,” she began.

“Want to what?” Amity prompted after Luz's voice had trailed off.

She leaned in toward Luz, and the scent of her light floral shampoo rose up around her like a soft fog that blurred Luz's already hazy grasp on her own words.

“I was thinking of you a lot,” Luz continued, “And I really wanted to know if you might want to be my...”

“Your what?” Amity said quickly.

Luz's eyes darted around the room and caught sight of the many pictures which hung on the walls.

“My model! I've been wanting to paint again and I thought that you'd make a great model!” Luz blurted out.

_Coward!_

Amity's face took on a bewildered expression and she took a half-step back before she recovered her composure.

“Oh,” she said, “I guess I wasn't expecting that.”

“Would you want to?” Luz asked, cursing herself furiously in her mind in two languages for her utter bufoonery.

Amity took a deep breath, and her face flushed an interesting shade of bright red before she swallowed and gave a small nod.

“Sure,” she said in a leaden tone of voice, “I'm already here. Why not?”

“Cool. Cool,” Luz said.

Amity walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I've never modeled for a painting before,” she said, “Do I have to take my clothes off like the women in all those old paintings in the art gallery at home?”

Luz's eyes widened and she felt her heart start to slam in her chest like an out of control jackhammer.

“Well I was just thinking of doing a portrait, but if you really wanted to-” she began.

“I was joking of course!” Amity said quickly with a too-loud laugh.

“Yes! Jokes! We're always joking around aren't we?” Luz said with a half-crazed chuckle of her own, “We have fun here!”

“What made you decide to ask me to be your model anyway?” Amity asked quickly to cover up the painfully awkward moment.

Luz froze and her mind raced as she tried to find an explanation other than the extremely frustrating truth.

_There's no running from this. If I don't tell her now then maybe I never will. Would I be okay with living with a regret like that for the rest of my life?_

She gestured at the paintings hanging on the walls as a sudden inspiration came to her.

“I painted all of those, and aside from the fanart they are all paintings of people that are important to me,” Luz said.

Amity looked up at Luz and her eyes had lost the annoyed look that had been lurking behind them ever since Luz had asked her to sit for a painting.

“I'm important to you?” she asked, her voice soft and unusually vulnerable sounding.

“You're very important to me,” Luz said, her own voice starting soft but growing stronger as she felt her confidence return.

“You're important to me to,” Amity said.

Luz felt her heart soar at those words and she took a deep breath.

“Okay, truth time- I don't even have any paint with me right now, I left most of my art stuff back at my mom's house and I'm not taking a new painting class until next semester,” Luz said.

“It might be tricky to make a painting then,” Amity replied slowly.

“I actually wanted to see you today because I wanted to tell you how I felt – how I _feel_ – about you,” Luz said.

Amity gnawed gently on her lower lip in a nervous gesture that Luz had grown used to seeing over the past week. She felt a surge of fear at all of the potential rejections that she had imagined following this moment.

“Okay. Tell me,” Amity said, locking eyes with Luz in a determined stare.

“I like you. As a friend, but also as much more than a friend too,” Luz said, “When I'm with you and we're talking about writing techniques or who our favorite Azura characters are or just texting about whatever weird stuff is on our minds I feel like... like someone filled my veins with light and music. You make every day that I get to spend time with you so much brighter and feel more real.”

Amity was wide eyed and her breath seemed caught in her throat, but Luz was determined to press on no matter the consequences.

“I don't want to make any kind of demands or tell you that I expect anything from you,” Luz said quickly, “And if you don't feel the same way about me I'd like it if we could still be friends. If you aren't uncomfortable with the idea of still being friends with me after this that is.”

“I like you too,” Amity said quickly as she rose up from the bed and took a small step toward Luz.

Luz felt her own eyes widen.

“Really?” she said.

“Yes! I couldn't get you out of my mind after the last time you invited me over – I was sure you could see how much of a fool I was acting like around you and it made me so anxious,” Amity said.

Luz took a step toward Amity, closing the distance between them in the small room.

“You never looked like a fool to me,” she said softly, “You're pretty much the coolest person I know.”

“Well, you're a huge nerd so that's not a big surprise,” Amity said with a lightning flash of a smile perking up the corners of her lips.

“Can't say you're wrong there,” Luz said with a small smile of her own as relief and joy and a million other positive emotions all swirled through her mind like a wild storm.

She reached a hand up and cupped the side of Amity's face against her palm, briefly struck by the contrast of her warm brown skin against the pale pink of Amity's cheek. Amity closed her eyes and gently nuzzled herself against Luz's hand and she felt her heart swell at the sight.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” Luz whispered softly.

“I really want you to,” Amity whispered back as she opened her eyes.

Amity didn't need to tell Luz twice.

She bent down slightly and their lips met, soft and hesitant at first. She had written so many scenes featuring dramatic kisses in her fics, but she knew she wouldn't ever be able to find the words to describe how it felt to be right here in this moment. Amity's arms flew up from where they had hung at her sides and ran their way up Luz's back, pulling her in closer as she began to kiss the taller girl back more aggressively.

_Oh my yes! More of this please!_

Luz cradled Amity's head in her hands, running her fingers through her soft brown locks. She broke the kiss and then began to plant a number of quick pecks across Amity's face – her cheeks, forehead, along her jaw and throat. A small moan escaped from Amity's lips when Luz's teeth had nipped gently at the shell of her ear and the sound hit Luz like a bolt of lightning.

They broke apart and Luz was struck by Amity's expression – excitement, happiness and nervousness all blended in equal measure. She was sure if she had a mirror on her that she'd see the same expression on her own face.

“So... do you think you might want to try going out or something?” Luz asked.

“Hmmm,” Amity hummed, her lips quirked up in a quizzical pout, “I might have to think about it a little.”

“Oh yeah?” Luz asked.

“No, of course I want to go out with you, you silly dork,” Amity said, throwing her arms possessively around Luz's shoulders and pulling her in close for another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a little longer than expected to write (and turned out a little longer than I thought it would too)
> 
> Hopefully it was worth the wait for anyone following the story!
> 
> Any feedback you'd want to leave is greatly appreciated - all the comments I've read have really inspired me to keep writing and not give up, even when the writers block gets bad!


	5. Chapter 5

A gust of wind whistled through the awnings of the storefronts lining the darkened street, bringing a stinging cold which nipped uncomfortably at the tip of Amity's nose. She pulled the thick fleece-lined collar of her jacket tighter around her neck to keep the chill from traveling down her spine and checked her phone again.

It had still only been a few minutes since Luz's last text saying that she was on her way and Amity had to remind herself to be patient - even if the night air was getting uncomfortably brisk. She considered, for the briefest of moments, ringing the bell but just one look into the glassy stare of that hateful owl-thing jutting out of the door like a plastic tumor was enough to quell the impulse.

_Not worth it_.

Amity didn't have to wait much longer before she could hear the faint sound of footsteps from within the building. The wooden front door was soon thrown open to reveal Luz standing outlined in the stairwell's dim light and wearing a long white garment that seemed like a mix of robe and dress at the same time.

"Sorry for the wait - I wasn't expecting you to get here until a bit later," Luz said.

Amity decided not to mention to Luz that she had been pacing around her apartment earlier thinking about their upcoming date and ended up losing track of the time. She hadn't realized that she had arrived much earlier than they had planned to meet until she had already pulled right up to the side of Luz's building.

"I was already in the area and decided to come by a little early instead of making two trips," she said nonchalantly.

"That makes sense," Luz said with a nod as she let Amity into the building and led her up the stairs.

The living room area was much the same as Amity remembered from the last time she had been by to see Luz except for the addition of Eda, who was seated on a chair made of darkly varnished wood with ornate carvings sculpted into its arms and legs. The older woman had a huge black cat with strange white face markings seated on her lap and was running one hand down his back in slow deliberate strokes, like a stereotypical villain straight out of an old movie.

It might have been a funny sight if it weren't for the fact that both the woman and cat were looking straight at Amity with measured stares that seemed almost sinister in the soft glow of the lamplight.

"I've got to finish getting ready, but it shouldn't take me much longer - do you mind waiting here a bit?," Luz asked with an apologetic smile.

"Sure, take your time," Amity answered with a small smile of her own.

Luz rushed off to her room, and Amity's eyes darted back and forth between Luz's retreating back and Eda's immobile face.

The faint clicking sound of Luz's door shutting upstairs echoed briefly in the room, followed by a moment of deep silence.

"Take a seat," Eda said to Amity, motioning toward the worn but comfortable couch opposite of the chair she was currently occupying.

Amity sat down and fidgeted with her hands. Aside from the first night when she had visited Luz here at her home and had seen Eda passed out and snoring on the couch, she hadn't had a chance to meet the woman that her girlfriend was living with yet.

_Girlfriend._

Even after a week it still felt strange to think of Luz that way... to think of anyone that way after Cat had...

_Let's not think of Cat right now_ , Amity thought to herself, cutting off that familiar pang before it could slither its way into her mind and ruin her evening.

Eda was still looking at her, and Amity realized she hadn't said anything for nearly a full minute.

She tried to think of something to say to break the silence, but nothing good came to mind. Her eyes glanced up at the trio of framed pictures from Eda's mugshot hanging on the nearby wall. Somehow the woman in the photographs with the bruised eye and blood trickling out around her fierce smile seemed much friendlier than the one sitting right in front of her.

"So," Eda said, "You're Luz's new girlfriend, right?"

Amity nodded her head quickly and a small smile perked up at the corners of her lips.

"Yes, that's me," she said, "Amity Blight."

"Eda Clawthorne," Eda replied.

"It's nice to meet you," Amity offered.

"Is it?" Eda said, raising one eyebrow slightly.

Amity would swear that the cat in Eda's lap somehow managed to look smug after she said that.

"Um-," Amity began, at a loss for words again.

"Tell me Amity," Eda interrupted, "what are your intentions toward my apprentice?"

Amity felt her mouth go dry and the room seemed to have gone slightly imbalanced, as if an immensely strong practical joker was tilting the floor around underneath her chair.

_Oh god what is happening here?_

"To... to take her to a haunted house tonight?" Amity replied in an uncertain tone of voice.

"Kind of a weird spot for a date isn't it?" Eda commented.

"It kind of is, yeah. Luz was pretty excited about the idea though," Amity replied.

In fact ever since Hexside University had announced that several student organizations had partnered with local businesses in Bonesborough to transform one of the disused school buildings into a giant haunted house for Halloween it had been practically all Luz would talk about. She had been chased away from the site where it was being set up a number of times already by the contractors, once with Amity in tow after Luz had convinced her to go along to get a sneak peak at the coming attraction.

"That does sound like Luz," Eda agreed.

"I was a little surprised myself," Amity said, "I thought she didn't really like scary things."

"Oh, I think it would take more than a few goons dressed up like monsters to scare Luz - she's a lot tougher than she looks," Eda said.

Amity remembered how tightly Luz had clung onto her while they had watched _The Abomination_ together, but decided not to mention it.

"She's always full of surprises, yeah," Amity said instead.

"She really is. I want you to understand that Luz is a very special person to me in particular," Eda said, "like family – but better because she's not terrible."

Amity nodded in agreement, feeling almost totally lost now by the sudden turn the conversation had taken.

"She's someone that I care about more than almost anyone else in the world," Eda went on, "And I want to make it crystal clear that if anyone treats her badly that things could get _very_ unpleasant for them."

Amity's fidgeting hands tightened into fists, her knuckles going white. Something between fear and fury was battling for control of her mind.

_Who does she think she is accusing me like that out of nowhere? She's only just met me! I'd never hurt Luz!_

_Also, what does she mean by things could get unpleasant? Has Luz had other girlfriends that 'mysteriously disappeared' before she met me?_

Anger won out.

"I would never-" Amity began in a heated voice.

She stopped when she saw that Eda's stern scowl had broken into a wide grin, and the older woman began to laugh.

"Oh, I'm just fucking with you! Luz is smart - if she trusts you enough to want to date you then you're probably a good kid too," Eda said.

Amity released a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding in.

"I had you going for a bit there though, didn't I?" Eda asked with another wicked smile.

Amity noticed a gold capped tooth gleaming from the corner of her mouth, and unconsciously prodded at the contours of her own canine teeth with the tip of her tongue.

"Yeah, you really did," Amity admitted.

"My dad pulled that bit on my first boyfriend and he went running out of the door on the spot," Eda confided, "It took me ages to forgive the old man for doing something so embarrassing to me."

"Was your dad a scary guy?" Amity asked.

Eda shrugged.

"I didn't really think so - though I guess that kind of speech does seem a bit more intimidating when you're polishing a shotgun and not petting a cat," she said while giving the cat in her lap a thorough scratch between the ears.

"I could see that being the case, yeah," Amity agreed, suddenly feeling very glad that Eda had chosen not to perfectly recreate her memory of that event tonight.

"I'm actually glad that I finally get a chance to meet the mysterious Amity that Luz is always sighing about in the shop when she's supposed to be working," Eda said, "You know she's pretty crazy about you, right?"

Amity could feel her face flush, both from embarrassment and pleasure at the same time.

“I really like her too,” Amity said quietly, dropping her eyes to her lap to inspect her freshly polished nails for no reason in particular.

Eda snorted in amusement.

“I can tell,” she said, “When she left the room you looked like a kid who'd just been told that their birthday was canceled this year.”

"I did not!" Amity protested.

"Trust me, you did," Eda said with a taunting lilt to her voice.

Amity resisted the childish urge to cross her arms and deny the accusation a second time - especially since she was privately sure that it was true.

She was spared any further teasing at that time when the sound of footsteps from the stairway drew their attention and Luz entered the living room.

Amity's eyes widened now that she was able to get a good look at Luz's full outfit: an accurate and well-made Azura costume, complete with an aquamarine wig that reached down to the small of her back and was tied in the Good Witch's signature braid. A white staff was held in Luz's right hand, and with a sweeping gesture the blue jewel at the tip flared to life with a mystical glow and a faint musical humming sound.

"Ta-da!" Luz called out as she reached into an inner pocket of her robe and threw a handful of glittering confetti into the air with a dramatic flourish.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think you're going to be cleaning that trash up after you get home tonight," Eda said in a dry voice as she pointed at the colorful particles scattered at Luz's feet.

Luz stuck her tongue out at Eda in response.

"That's a great costume," Amity said, giving Luz a smile.

"Thanks," Luz said, her cheeks warming with a light blush, "You look great too."

"I didn't really dress up though," Amity pointed out.

"Yeah, but you still look cute anyway," Luz said with a wink.

Amity felt a blush spread out from her face all the way to the roots of her hair.

"Thank you," she mumbled in response.

"Euugh," Eda groaned from her chair, "Will you two adorable sweethearts get out of here already before you give me diabetes? The last thing I need is _another_ health condition fucking up my life."

"Okay Eda, I promise I won't be out too late," Luz said.

"What am I, your mom? Be out as late as you want - you're an adult now. Go have some fun!" Eda said, waving the pair off.

"It was nice meeting you Ms. Clawthorne," Amity said, still not sure if that was totally true.

"Nice meeting you too. Stay safe kids, and don't do anything illegal - not unless you've already got an escape route planned out in case the cops show up," Eda called out as they left the living room.

"She's always full of helpful advice like that," Luz said with a nod to Amity as they walked down the stairs together and out of the front door.

The pair walked side by side, their hands naturally seeking each other out as they headed toward the spot where Amity's car was parked further down the street. Amity enjoyed the feel of Luz's fingers intertwined with her own, her skin soft and warm even in the cold night air.

She turned to give Luz another look under the glow of the streetlights, impressed once again with the quality of her costume.

"Where did you find the time to put all of that together?" she asked with a wide gesture that encompassed Luz from head to toe.

Luz gave a small shrug.

"It's not actually new - I made it last year for Azura-Con. My friend Gus helped me 3D print parts of the staff topper and wire up the electronics for it," she said as she flourished the staff and made it light up once more for emphasis.

Amity cocked an eyebrow.

"So you're telling me that you decided to pack cosplay gear with you for college but you forgot to bring any cold weather clothes?" Amity asked, remembering all of the times she had seen Luz shivering in her light hoodie as the temperature had steadily dropped with each passing day.

"You have your priorities and I have mine," Luz replied.

"We're going to have to go shopping to get you a jacket later at the very least," Amity said.

"That might be for the best," Luz said, "I hadn't expected it to be _this_ cold when I moved out here. We never had winters like this back home."

"This is still just the fall weather Luz, it's going to be much colder when the real winter begins," Amity said.

"Maybe I should grab a few sweaters along with that jacket then," Luz said.

"It would be a good start," Amity agreed.

"Why didn't you want to dress up tonight anyway?" Luz asked, "The costumes are half the fun of Halloween."

Amity smiled wide and revealed a pair of pointed press-on vampire fangs slipped over her normally dainty canine teeth.

"I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was a kid so I didn't know what to do - but I thought this might be okay as a last minute costume," she said.

"Neat - I hadn't noticed those before," Luz said as she turned to give the prosthetic teeth a closer look.

"When I went to the store earlier today all they had left for women's costumes was crappy stuff like 'Sexy Mime', but they still had a few sets of these fake teeth. I already wear a lot of black anyway, so I figured I'd be a 'casual vampire'," she said.

"I'll give it a passing grade since you look kind of hot with fangs," Luz said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Amity felt the tips of her ears redden from more than just the chill night air.

"Don't get too attached to them," Amity said briskly, "They were a total pain in the ass to put on."

"I'll do my best to enjoy the sight tonight then," Luz said with a smile.

_She's doing it again_ , Amity fumed silently.

Even after the two had started officially dating, Amity had found that Luz was still able to fluster her and throw her off balance with nothing more than a smile and a comment. If anything it had gotten worse now since Luz was flirting with her far more openly and intentionally.

"What had gotten you so interested in going to a haunted house anyway?" Amity asked quickly to cover up the way that Luz's smile had set her heart to beating double-time.

"I just thought it would be something fun that we could do together - I always used to go with Willow and Gus to the haunted houses they would do in town back home and we always had a great time," Luz said.

Amity squeezed Luz's hand in a comforting gesture. Though she didn't often find herself thinking back fondly on her times with Boscha and Skara, Amity knew that Luz missed her own friends deeply.

"Is that the real reason?" Amity asked in a playful tone, "I had just thought you asked me to go with you because you wanted an excuse to get scared and latch on to me again."

Without any warning Amity felt Luz step behind her and then wrap her arms around Amity's waist. The taller girl pulled Amity in close until she could feel herself pressed up against the curves of Luz's body.

Amity felt her face flush again as Luz leaned over, her warm breath tickling against the outside of Amity's ear.

"We're already going out now Amity," Luz whispered, "I don't need to have an excuse to do that anymore."

At that moment, Amity felt as though a whole swarm of butterflies had been released right in the pit of her stomach.

Before she could clear her head and think of a response Luz had planted a quick kiss on her cheek and then tugged her along toward the car.

"Hurry up, it's freezing out here and I want to go get startled by people dressed up as scary monsters already," Luz said with a laugh.

Amity felt as though her heart was beating so hard that she was almost surprised that Luz couldn't hear it.

_How the hell can she be so goofy one second and then be ridiculously dashing the next?_

_I swear I'm going to get whiplash of the brain if I can't adjust to this soon._

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz glanced around the darkened foyer with an appreciative eye, taking in the dense cobwebs clustered at the corners of the ceiling and the rust-colored handprints streaked ominously down the wall.

The thick swirls of mist being pumped out by the fog machine in the corner were a little too over the top for her tastes, but overall it seemed like a promising start for tonight's haunted house experience.

"Pretty great, right?" she asked Amity with a grin.

A shrill scream from somewhere within the dimly lit building ripped through the air, and Luz saw Amity's shoulders jerk upward in a quick flash of surprise.

"Yup, great," Amity said in a too-calm voice, "Lovely atmosphere."

Luz could hear the note of tension humming in her voice, and she suddenly remembered Amity's initial terrified reaction to Hooty popping out of the front door.

Granted, Luz still found Hooty to be kind of horrifying on a number of levels even after she had gotten used to it but Amity had seemed particularly distressed by the sudden shock of that moment after she had pressed the doorbell.

_Maybe Amity isn't good at handling sudden surprises?,_ she thought.

_That seems kind of weird considering what a horror movie fan she is, but maybe it feels different when the scares are happening to her in person instead of to someone else on a screen?_

Luz reached out and took her girlfriend's hand in her own, pulling Amity closer by her side.

"Don't worry – the Good Witch Azura will be here to protect you in case you get frightened,” she said in a gently teasing tone of voice.

Amity's eyes narrowed.

"You couldn't even handle the cheesiest Abomination movie - I think if anyone is going to get scared tonight it'll be you," she said.

"Oh? Would you want to bet on it?" Luz asked.

"Sure," Amity said with a grin that bared her pointed plastic fangs, "I'm always up for a challenge."

_That_ _ **really**_ _is a good look for her_ , Luz thought, feeling a flutter in her chest at the sight of that sharp gleaming smile.

_Wait, do I have a thing for vampire girls now?_

Luz took a fraction of a second to consider the mental image of Amity looming over her bed in a dark room, gleaming canines gently denting the skin of her throat and found it was not an unpleasant one.

_Huh. I guess you can still learn something new about yourself once in a while._

"Okay then, how about whoever ends up being the most freaked out by the time we reach the end of the haunted house buys lunch next time we go eat?" Luz suggested, filing her earlier thought away for later.

_An Azura/Hecate Vampire AU story might have some potential..._

"Deal," Amity agreed, turning to Luz to offer her hand.

Once their bet had been sealed with a handshake the pair proceeded deeper into the house.

Luz's admiration for the haunted house's craftsmanship increased the further they went through it. It was a quiet and low key setup so far, but very atmospheric. People had only been admitted into the building in very small groups, and Luz and Amity seemed to have the place all to themselves for the moment which helped to increase their feeling of isolation.

_They put a lot of work into this_ , Luz thought as she noticed the way the shadows cast by the dim lighting seemed to randomly stretch and distort around them, causing the illusion of movement at the corners of their eyes.

The air grew unexpectedly chilled when Luz opened a creaking door and the pair entered a very long hallway lined with a number of paintings done in muted colors. The artwork consisted of portraits of men and women in a variety of outdated clothing styles, the paint defaced by scratches and tears around the subjects faces. Particularly the eyes.

A furtive scrabbling sound could be heard from within the walls and Amity's fingers tightened their grip on Luz's hand.

"You know," Luz said in a conversational tone, "I do love haunted houses but there was a reason that I was especially excited to visit this one."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Amity asked, her eyes darting again toward a new skittering sound which started up from behind a painting of a young girl holding a doll, her features obliterated by tears and slashes in the canvas.

"Well, this old building has a bit of a history," Luz continued, "It used to belong to a fraternity ages ago - like, way back in the Eighties I think. They were forced to disband and close their chapter when a bunch of freshman pledges died during some stupid initiation ritual and the house has been abandoned ever since."

Amity scoffed.

"Are you trying to tell me that they set up a haunted house inside of an actual haunted house?" she asked, "You're just fucking with me, right?"

"Oh no, I'm being totally serious," Luz said, "You can pull out your phone right now and check if you want. This house is actually part of the reason that I wanted to come to Hexside in the first place."

Amity turned to face Luz with a puzzled expression.

"You chose something as important to your future as your college because there might have been fratboy ghosts haunting it?" she asked.

"Well, mostly it was because Hexside has a great program for creative writing majors and my scholarships could cover the tuition, _but_ the possibility of ghosts was a big plus," Luz said.

"I just came here because it's where my family always goes - I think there's a lecture hall somewhere in the science wing named after my grandfather," Amity said.

Luz felt Amity's grip grow almost crushingly tight when the skittering sounds from the walls suddenly increased in volume. The defaced portraits had begun to shake and rattle in their frames as a high keening noise split the air. Goosebumps sprouted all over Luz's arms.

"Probably just the wind," Luz said in a confident sounding stage-whisper.

Amity barked out a surprised laugh at that, and her deathgrip on Luz's poor, abused fingers slackened.

The already dim lights in the hall flickered off without any warning, stranding the two girls in near total darkness as the rattling of the portraits increased.

That was when the shadowy form of the beast burst out from around the corner of the hallway, shrieking and gibbering as it waved its great claws toward them.

Amity gave an ear splitting scream of terror and flung her arms tight around Luz's torso before burying her face into Luz's shoulder.

Luz, for her part, had jabbed out at the monster with her mighty staff (which was mostly made out of painted PVC pipe) and the light inside it's large fake-jewel tip flared to life extra-bright in the darkness.

“Back off sucker!” Luz screamed, her free arm tightening around Amity's shoulder to pull her in closer as her heart pounded like crazy in her chest.

"Son of a bitch!" the monster exclaimed as it stumbled back from the out-thrust light, throwing a rubbery-looking claw across its eyes protectively.

_Oh, right,_ Luz thought, _haunted houses are packed with guys like this._

"Sorry! I'm really sorry about that," Luz said with an embarrassed smile, "Instinct."

The monster had staggered up against a nearby wall, rapidly blinking its very human looking eyes through the holes of its mask.

"I'm pretty sure that the rules we posted had clearly said that no flashlights of any kind were allowed inside of the house," it whined.

"This is a costume prop, not a flashlight," Luz said defensively.

"Well it still flashes pretty damn good," the monster snapped.

Amity squinted at the monster.

"Jerbo?" she asked.

"Who?" Luz asked.

"I partner with him sometimes in the organic chem lab - I didn't know you were going to be working here tonight," she said.

"Oh, hey Amity - yeah, it sounded like a fun job. It was too, right up until I got blinded by your friend here that is," he replied.

"In my defense," Luz objected, "You did a very convincing job as a horrifying monster."

"Really? That's nice of you to say so," Jerbo said, "You guys should get going and not hold up the line, but please don't flash anyone else while you're in here."

"You probably should think of a better way to phrase that, but yeah - I'll make sure to keep this off for the rest of the visit," Luz said as she fiddled with the buttons and finally managed to shut the staff's light off.

Amity waved a quick goodbye to her occasional lab partner as she followed Luz further down the hall and through the next door.

They entered an area that seemed to be a decaying living room, which was somewhat ironic since the furniture appeared to be occupied by desiccated corpses which were all frozen in various poses of fear or pain. Their skin looked leathery to the touch, and their dried lips were peeled back in expressions of horror and despair.

Luz was pretty sure they were made out of papier-mache, but they looked fantastic nonetheless.

Amity was glancing over at the sprawled collection of counterfeit corpses with barely-concealed distaste, and she still had one arm hooked around Luz's waist in a tight grip.

“Soooo,” Luz began in a playful tone of voice, “I'm starting to think that maybe you agreed to come with me tonight because _you_ wanted an excuse to get scared and latch on to me. Does that sound about right?”

Amity's eyes narrowed and she shot Luz a glare for turning her own words back on her, though she did not release her grip on Luz's waist.

“I'm going to get my revenge on you for this one day Noceda – it might not be until years from now, but it's coming,” she said.

Luz beamed a delighted smile at Amity.

“Years? I didn't know you were already thinking of us so long term – I'm touched,” she said.

Amity's face reddened in what Luz considered an extremely adorable way, and she turned to gesture at the bodies.

“So what do you think this bit is all about?” she asked quickly.

Luz considered the scene laid out before her.

“What do you mean exactly? It's a bunch of dead bodies. Seems like normal haunted house decoration-type stuff to me,” Luz said.

“Yeah, but what's supposed to be scary about it? That other room with the paintings was creepy as hell but these are just sitting here not doing much,” Amity argued.

“What, dead bodies aren't scary enough for you?” Luz asked.

“Maybe its a _memento mori_ type of thing?” Amity speculated, “Like we get here and then we see the corpses and have to contemplate our own mortality and the inevitability of death?”

Luz cocked an eyebrow at Amity in surprise.

“I'd thought your whole goth thing was just an aesthetic choice, but I guess you really are a little morbid aren't you?” she said, “More likely, its just that one of the bodies is actually someone in costume and if we were to get closer to check them out they would jump up to scare us.”

“I guess that would work too,” Amity said with a shrug, “Even if its less existentially terrifying.”

The pair paused and then looked at the bodies once more.

“I bet you its the one on the left that's actually a person,” Luz said, gesturing toward the corpse with her staff.

“Lets check it out,” Amity suggested.

The two walked slowly and carefully toward the corpse of Luz's choice, fully prepared for any sort of jump-scare shenanigans it might have in store for them. Their attention was totally focused on every detail of the body, ready to note any tell-tale signs of movement.

This was why they were both extremely startled when a hatch opened in the ceiling directly above them and an enormous spider descended on a silk rope, lashing the air with its vast legs and hissing out from its fanged maw.

This time both Luz and Amity screamed simultaneously and clung to one another in a mutual bone-crushing hug.

A few seconds passed and Luz saw that the spiders legs were held out at an unnaturally stiff angle and what she had first taken to be the hiss of a predatory beast was actually just the whir of the electric motors which made the monsters legs jerk and wobble in a predictable pattern. Luz's grip on Amity slackened slightly, but she didn't remove her arms from around her completely.

Luz's heart was slamming out of control in her chest, but after the initial terror of the moment had faded she knew that it was no longer being powered by fear at this point.

She ran her hands up and down Amity's back in slow strokes, enjoying the warmth and closeness of her.

_How does she always smell so good? Does she sweat drugged perfume or something?,_ Luz marveled as she barely resisted the urge to bend down and bury her face in the crook of Amity's neck.

“Looks like maybe you might need a little protecting yourself, huh Azura?” Amity said in a shaky voice, flashing Luz a devilish smile.

_I wonder if those vampire teeth she's wearing would get in the way if we made out right now?_ , Luz thought.

_Are people even allowed to make out in a haunted house? That's got to be against the rules somewhere, right?_

Luz felt her heart speed up ever so slightly at that thought.

_Wait, why did that make it seem even better somehow?_

_God damn it, Eda really has been a terrible influence on me hasn't she?_

“I think we could probably call this one a tie for our bet,” Luz said, “Since you're clinging to me pretty tightly too.”

“I'm obviously just comforting you since you're terrified right now,” Amity said in a not-at-all convincing tone.

The enormous fake spider reeled its way back up into the ceiling, unnoticed by the two young women who were completely lost in their own world at the moment.

Luz reached up and slowly stroked her fingertips along Amity's cheek and jawline. Her amber colored eyes seemed wider and brighter in the dim light of the room than Luz had ever seen them before.

“I think I might need a little more comforting,” Luz said in a quiet tone and then moved her face in closer until her lips were nearly brushing against Amity's.

Amity's arms moved up to around Luz's shoulders and pulled her in the rest of the way to close the distance. It started out as a slow and gentle kiss, but all the adrenaline flowing through them from their recent scare seemed to ramp up the intensity of the experience more than either of them had anticipated.

Luz could hear Amity sigh happily into her mouth as she ran the tips of her blunt nails around her ear and down the back of her neck. Luz tilted her head to deepen the kiss, feeling her blood flush hot and bright up to the surface of her skin as she cradled Amity's head in her hand and pulled her in closer.

Amity may have been the one dressed as a vampire, but at this moment Luz almost felt like she wanted to devour her instead.

They broke apart only after Amity had to shove Luz away when one of her fake fangs had been dislodged by Luz's tongue and she was worried that she was going to accidentally swallow it.

“Feeling comforted now?” Amity asked in a shaky voice after she had spat the loose fang into her hand and then slipped it back into place over her natural tooth.

Strands of hair had come loose from her normally immaculate ponytail, and they framed her face in a way that Luz thought looked absolutely irresistible.

“Definitely,” Luz said as she re-adjusted her skewed aquamarine wig and then bent to pick up her witches hat from where it had been knocked to the floor, “I think I'm feeling more comfortable now than I've ever been in my life to be honest.”

She took a deep breath and tried to shake some sense back into her head, hoping that it would calm the hummingbird flutter of her pulse.

“Well... I guess we should probably finish going through the rest of the house then,” Amity said.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Luz agreed with a nod of her head, “I still have our bet to win after all.”

“Oh, I think you're going to lose this one actually,” Amity said in a playful tone.

“Really – and what makes you say that?” Luz asked.

Amity reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair back away from her face and then gave Luz a very smug smile.

“Because if you don't get scared again then I wouldn't need to comfort you like that anymore, would I?” she asked.

Luz shivered as though a spider had just danced its way down her spine at the look in Amity's eyes.

“Oh that is playing _dirty_ , Blight!” she said in an accusing tone, her cheeks flushed hot.

“Maybe,” Amity agreed, “Is it going to work?”

“I never said it wouldn't work,” Luz mumbled.

“One thing you should know about me by now,” Amity said as she took Luz's hand once more, “Is that I hate to lose.”

Luz didn't really enjoy losing either – but between buying lunch on another day or receiving more of Amity's attention tonight she was pretty sure that she was getting the better end of the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally planning a much more angsty and serious chapter to follow up the last one, but then I thought... nah.
> 
> So, enjoy some seasonal Halloween-appropriate fluff instead!
> 
> Angst will likely come later on, when I'm more in the mood to write it.
> 
> Once again, a huge thank you to everyone that's been leaving me encouraging feedback and kudos! It's been a big help!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few quick notes:
> 
> 1) This chapter took me forever to finish because I was working through some writers block. It is also MASSIVELY long.
> 
> 2) As the new tags and rating indicate this chapter does include IMPLIED sex, but its not explicit or smut. Fair warning though in case this is something which you do not want to read about in a College AU story.

Amity shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position on the thick leather cushions of her apartment's couch. She'd never liked the cold, smooth feel of this type of upholstery against her skin but choosing the specifics of the apartment's furniture had not been up to her. Odalia Blight liked leather couches, so leather couches were what her daughter would sit on even if she never intended to visit the place herself.

Amity Blight would be the first to admit that she'd been given a great many advantages in her life, but an overabundance of choices was not one of them.

"Where would you like to begin this week's session Amity? Is there anything in particular that you feel like talking about right now?" the therapist asked.

Her voice sounded vaguely distant and tinny coming from the speaker of Amity's phone.

“I'm not sure. I think I've mostly been having a good week since our last session,” Amity said as she turned her face toward the screen of her phone, which was propped up against a small stand on her coffee table.

Strictly speaking, lying back on a couch was not required for Amity to have a video-call with her therapist but the idea of using the latest in modern technology to do things in a very old-fashioned way appealed to her sense of irony.

Her therapist nodded at her from the screen and motioned for Amity to continue speaking.

"I've still been feeling stressed," Amity continued, "but it's not quite as... heavy? I guess 'heavy' would be the best word for it. I feel like I can breathe a little easier lately - which is weird because classes have been ramping up and I've been absolutely buried in assignments."

"Maybe you should see about taking fewer hours next semester to prevent this situation in the future," her therapist suggested.

"You're probably right," Amity agreed, "I might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew this time around."

_Not sure how my parents would feel about me 'slacking off' by dropping down to a normal number hours though_ , Amity thought.

"Have you experienced any panic attacks recently?" the therapist asked.

"One, yes - but it was a small one," Amity said with a small nod.

"When did it occur?" said the therapist.

Amity blew out a breath and searched her memory for the specifics.

"Three days ago - it was kind of stupid," Amity said.

"Do you know what might have triggered it this time?" her therapist asked.

"It was because of a nightmare. I woke up in the middle of it and I started having one right away," Amity said.

"Do you remember any details from that dream?" her therapist asked.

"Yeah- it's one that I've had before a few times," Amity said, "the prom one."

She drew in a deep breath as the memory washed over her, fresh and sharp.

"It was the same as always – I'm alone in the locker room after a soccer game with Cat and she finds the letter I'd slipped into her gym bag. She reads it and then starts laughing at me, asking why I ever thought that she'd want to go with me. She rips the letter in half, I guess just to make it very clear what her answer was in case I hadn't already been able to guess," Amity said.

Her actual rejection by Cat hadn't been nearly as dramatic as the dream had made it out to be, but that hadn't stopped her subconscious from building it up over time. Usually even thinking about the events of that day that had inspired it felt like jabbing a poisoned dart straight to her heart, but the pain wasn't nearly as sharp today.

More like a dull ache than anything else.

"You haven't had that particular dream in some time, correct?" her therapist asked.

"Yes, not for a few months," Amity replied, "The weird thing is that even though I did wake up stressed and panicked it didn't hurt afterward as much as it used to once I'd calmed myself down."

"That's good," the therapist said, "Any thoughts on why that might be?"

Amity paused and considered the question and how truthfully she would answer it.

_Well, if you can't trust your therapist then what's even the point of having one?_ , she thought.

"This is going to sound silly... but when I was panicking after I woke up I thought about calling Luz to talk to her about it. I imagined her voice telling me that I was going to be okay and I started to feel better... warm and safe," Amity said.

She could feel her face grow hot. Amity had told her therapist things about herself that other people may have considered far more personal and intimate than this in the past, but somehow revealing that she had calmed herself down from a panic attack by imagining her girlfriend soothing away her fear seemed extra embarrassing.

“I didn't actually call her of course. That would have been crazy,” Amity finished in a dismissive tone.

“What did we say about that word?” the therapist said, her stern expression glowing out from behind the screen of Amity's phone.

“I know, I know,” Amity sighed as she waved a hand in a gesture of surrender, “You've got to admit that it would have been super needy to call someone that you've been dating for less than a month at 3 AM because you had a bad dream though, right?”

“Maybe just a little,” her therapist conceded, “but you seem to have been able to cope with this recent anxiety attack much more effectively now than you have with others in the past. Having someone in your life that you feel you can reach out to can be a very comforting thing when dealing with this type of situation.”

“It's been pretty nice having at least one person around that I feel like I can depend on now, yeah,” Amity agreed, “It's been... it's been weird.”

“What's been weird about it exactly?” the therapist asked.

Amity took another deep breath and gathered her thoughts.

“I knew it was going to be different when Luz and I started dating. Different from when we were friends, but I didn't know how different it would make me _feel_ ,” Amity said.

“Go on,” the therapist prompted when Amity paused.

“The way I feel, even when I'm not with her is... not like myself. I catch myself doing things that aren't normal for me. Like just grinning like an idiot when I suddenly remember some dumb joke she'd made days ago... it's like I have these moments when I'm just randomly happy for no reason at all,” Amity said.

“And that is... bad?” the therapist asked in an arch voice.

“No, but it's still weird! It's not like I've been transformed into a magical princess singing love songs to woodland animals out of nowhere, but I'm not really used to this whole... everything,” Amity said.

“The initial infatuation stage of a relationship does bring very powerful emotions with it – though it usually wears off after about a year or so at most,” the therapist noted.

“Oh good, I'm sure that I'll be getting my stress headaches again in no time at all then,” Amity grumbled in a sarcastic tone.

“Not necessarily,” her therapist said, “but it's important to know that your feelings about your partner and your relationship will change over time. Remember not to mistake the initial fading of this intense infatuation for falling out of love.”

“Can we not say love? We've only been together for a few weeks, I don't think it's the right word to use,” Amity objected.

“Why do you feel that way?” the therapist asked.

Amity's hands flexed in the empty air, grasping for the thoughts that slipped just beyond her reach.

“I don't know. Being in love just seems... it seems like a bad idea to me,” she said.

“Love in general or loving Luz specifically?” the therapist asked.

“Either? Both,” Amity said, “Sometimes I worry that if she gets to know me – to _really_ know me – then there's no way that she'd be able to love me back.”

“You deserve love too Amity,” her therapist said, the words spoken in the instinctive rhythm of someone who has had to repeat something many times.

“Do I deserve Luz's though?” Amity asked with a sigh, “I've told you about her already – what she's told me about her life anyway. She's an absolutely wonderful person who has had it pretty rough, and part of the reason for that is because people like _me_ used to bully her.”

“You only met Luz this year - you aren't one of the people that hurt her in the past,” the therapist pointed out mildly.

“No, but that didn't keep me from hurting people _like_ her. People whose only crime was not fitting in,” Amity said, “I just feel like the more Luz learns about me the less she'll want to have anything to do with me. Honestly, I'm terrified of it.”

”Everyone has parts of their past that they are ashamed of, Amity,” her therapist said, “You've also made great strides to improve your behavior and attitude since then as well.”

“That doesn't change what happened,” Amity said.

“No, it doesn't,” the therapist agreed, “And nothing ever will. No one can use magic to go back in time and undo the regrettable parts of their past – but they can resolve to learn from them and to grow. If you feel like the person that you were in the past isn't worthy of the happiness you have now, then you need to continue striving to be the kind of person who deserves that happiness in the present.”

“So... I should try to fake it till I make it?” Amity suggested.

“If you want to put it that way, sure,” her therapist agreed.

“The important thing,” the therapist continued, “is that you need to give yourself permission to be happy. Punishing yourself for things you can't change won't make anyone's life any better – especially not your own. Does your relationship with Luz make you feel happy?”

Amity nodded.

“It does. I feel stupidly lucky whenever we get to spend time together,” she said.

_Considering our schedules though, it doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like_ , Amity thought.

“I'm sure she would be pleased to hear that if you told her,” the therapist said.

“Oh she probably would – she'd be so smug about it too I bet,” Amity said, feeling the corners of her lips tug up into a small smile at the thought.

“You can tell Luz more about your past if you feel that you need to dispel some of these insecurities that you have been feeling,” her therapist said in a serious voice, “but don't try to sabotage yourself by intentionally trying to make her see you in a bad light. I think that this relationship has been good for you, and I want to see you keep making more progress like this in our future sessions.”

“Do I get a discount on those sessions if she ends up making your job too easy?” Amity asked in a joking voice.

The therapist flashed a tight smile, her lips thin and pressed together.

“Now that, Amity, is the first actually crazy thing I've ever heard you say,” she said.

Amity chuckled. Her therapist rarely made jokes or other personal remarks but years of sessions together still made Amity feel close to her.

Probably closer than she should have felt, but it's not like she was spoiled for choice in terms of a decent support network.

“You know, I actually met another woman named Clawthorne recently – do you have any relatives here in Bonesborough?” Amity asked.

Dr. Lilith Clawthorne stiffened and her face took on a wary look.

“Not as far as I know. It's a common enough name,” she said dismissively, “and also not relevant to our current conversation.”

“Sorry,” Amity said quickly, shrinking back from the coldness in the therapist's eyes.

Even through a screen, the doctor had a very sharp stare.

The therapist shook herself and raised a hand in a calming gesture.

“My apologies,” she said, “I just have... complicated issues of my own regarding family. There's some estrangement, and I'd rather not discuss it with a patient. I'm sure you'll understand.”

“Considering how often I'm complaining about my family to you, I think you know that I do,” Amity said.

"I want you to continue keeping your stress levels down as much as possible until our next session," Dr. Clawthorne said, "Make a real effort to take some time and do something unrelated to school that will make you feel good. Try to relax. It's true that your grades are important, but the world won't end if Amity Blight decides to not spend every night studying herself to exhaustion."

"Your world might not, but mine certainly won't be looking too great if my parents see anything less than the best from me," Amity said.

"Your parents aren't the ones that are living your life and having to deal with your stress- you are," Dr. Clawthorne pointed out.

"Are you sure you should be giving me that kind of advice - they're the ones that pay your bill too," Amity said.

"Yes, but you're my patient - and despite what my accountant tells me I do believe that patients matter more than payments," Dr. Clawthorne said, "My whole job here is to help you, and if I told you to just accept the stress you feel and the burden of the unreasonable expectations that others place on you would, then I would not be helping."

Amity sat back and thought about the doctor's advice.

_It really has been a while since I've had a chance to do something fun. I haven't had a chance to see Luz outside of class or getting lunch together since Halloween_ , Amity thought.

_I miss her already._

_This schedule has been a killer with my free time. It's almost like I'm stuck in a long distance relationship with someone that lives right here in town considering how rarely we get to see each other._

"Okay, I'll give it a shot," she said.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Though Amity had promised her therapist that she would try to relax this week, she would have to admit that she hadn't been doing a very good job of it so far. The week was almost over too, and the fact that she hadn't managed to find the time to rest yet was somehow making her feel even more stressed.

_Leave it to me to turn getting some much needed relaxation into a brand new homework assignment to freak out over,_ Amity grumbled to herself as she contemplated the situation.

She couldn't deny that going so long without a proper rest was starting to have an effect on her.

Amity had to read through the assigned section of her Organic Chemistry textbook twice without comprehending a word of it before she finally was willing to conclude that today was just not going to be a good day for learning that subject. Just like any of the other subjects that she had tried to work on so far during her current study break which she took between classes.

The chemistry book joined the two other textbooks sitting like extremely large, overpriced bricks at the bottom of her bag. She leaned back into the worn padding of the campus library chair and blew out a frustrated breath - though she did it quietly so as to not disturb her fellow students who were working around her on writing their papers and conducting research.

She briefly considered skipping her next class, but decided against it. Even if her brain felt like a useless mush right now she couldn't afford to miss the chance to take notes on any important information that might be covered during the lecture. Amity knew from past experience that even if she was bone tired or on the verge of an anxiety-related breakdown that she could still take fairly decent notes on pure instinct alone.

Amity hadn't been lying when she had told Dr. Clawthorne that she was not feeling _as_ stressed lately as she had been before - but that was an extremely relative term. Exams were almost a month away, but still drawing closer with each passing day - and with an 18 hour schedule she had more of them to prepare for than the average student if she wanted to keep her GPA at a level which her parents would find acceptable.

Amity knew if her grades were to start slipping too far that they might begin prying more into her life, and after enjoying the last few months of relative freedom that was the absolute last thing that she wanted.

_They'd probably decide to hire tutors for me that would end up taking away the last scraps of free time that I have left._

Her gloomy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her phone chiming a message alert from inside the pocket of her jacket. Several nearby students had looked up from their work and shot her glares, but she pulled the phone out and silenced it without acknowledging them.

**Luz** : So let's say that you were going to be stranded on a dessert island. What 3 things would you take with you?

Amity felt a small smile tug up at the corners of her mouth and then considered the question.

Today was one of those unfortunate days when she and Luz shared neither a writing class nor a long enough break for a meal, and Luz had a shift at Eda's shop right after her classes on campus ended - texting was just about the only way they were able to communicate at times like this.

**Me** : A flare gun to signal a ship if I see one, a hatchet to make tools and build a shelter and a magnifying glass to start fires. You?

**Luz** : I think I'd probably take a spoon, a fork and some napkins.

Amity frowned.

She knew that she was going to regret this, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.

**Me** : Why would you take that stuff instead of actual survival gear?

**Luz** : Well if I'm going to be on an island full of sweet desserts I'd like to be able to eat them without getting too messy.

Amity scrolled up and re-read Luz's original question, noted the spelling of 'dessert' instead of 'desert', and then groaned so loudly that she was shushed by several nearby students that had their studies interrupted.

**Me** : I thought you were supposed to be lactose intolerant? How can you stand to be this fucking cheesy?

**Luz** : You know you love it.

The truth was that Amity really did love Luz's extremely lame sense of humor - if not the jokes themselves then at least the joy that she knew it gave Luz to come up with them.

Of course the last thing she wanted to do was to encourage more terrible puns.

**Me** : Very bold of you to make a habit of telling me such awful jokes and then still expect me to keep seeing you.

**Me** : You're lucky you're so cute.

**Luz** : It's because I'm cute that I know you'll let me get away with it.

**Me** : You are a monster Luz Noceda.

**Luz** : How's your day been going?

Amity had written out a quick ' _Fine_ ', but stopped. Today had been pretty far from fine, and if she could tell anyone about how she was honestly feeling then she could definitely tell Luz.

**Me** : Not great. Studying is going nowhere and I'm feeling kind of burned out with everything. Kind of just want the whole day to be over already.

**Luz** : That sucks. Would hearing more of my amazing jokes help?

**Me** : Definitely not.

**Luz** : Fine – then is there anything non-comedy related that I can do to help instead?

Amity was about to reply with a negative, but she was seized by a sudden impulse.

_Dr. Clawthorne did tell me to do something fun. So this doesn't count as slacking from my studies - I'm obeying medical advice._

**Me** : Would you want to have dinner with me tonight? I could go pick you up after your shift at the shop is done.

She could feel her breath catch in her throat as she waited for Luz's reply, and then immediately grew annoyed with herself.

_Is it pathetic of me to be so worried that she might say no?_ , Amity thought.

_If she's busy tonight I wouldn't have any right to complain. I've been too busy to hang out so many times as it is already._

**Luz** : That sounds great! Where would you want to go?

Amity, who had planned nothing at all, quickly ran through the usual options in her mind and found them all lacking.

**Me** : Lets just order something for delivery and eat at my place. I still haven't had a chance to show you my apartment.

**Luz** : Sounds good. Is there a dress code required in your building? How much am I supposed to tip the butler?

**Me** : First off there isn't a butler and I don't think people normally tip them anyway.

**Me** : There also isn't a dress code. It's just a normal apartment, not whatever kind of weird castle you're probably imagining right now.

**Luz** : Just wanted to make sure. I don't know how you rich people live.

**Me** : I live on takeout food and way too much coffee.

**Luz** : I'm going to need to teach you to cook one day. I'm not having my girlfriend drop dead from fast food poisoning because no one ever showed you around a kitchen.

The mental image of Luz in her apartment's nearly unused kitchen, teaching Amity the basics of cooking was so ridiculously domestic and heartwarming that Amity couldn't help but smile in what she was sure was an extremely goofy way.

**Me** : That does sound like fun, but let's do it another time. I want to be lazy and just hang out tonight. We can watch a movie or something.

**Luz** : I see your plan now Blight. You want us to watch something scary just so I'm forced to cuddle up to you for protection, right?

**Luz** : Is that your sick game?

Amity rolled her eyes, then felt somewhat silly since Luz would obviously not be able to see her expression.

**Me** : We don't have to watch a horror movie you know. You can choose whatever movie you want to watch this time.

**Luz** : Well it just so happens that I have been feeling in the mood for a horror movie lately.

**Luz** : For totally unrelated reasons.

Amity felt her heart speed up as she remembered the feeling of Luz squeezed up against her during their first movie night together before they had started dating, and for what felt like the thousandth time she wondered just what might have happened if Eda hadn't shown up at the apartment right when she did.

**Me** : Between that first Abomination movie we watched and our haunted house date I'm starting to worry that I might have accidentally given you some kind of fetish for spooky stuff.

**Luz** : That's ridiculous.

**Luz** : On an unrelated note, you don't still have those vampire fangs from Halloween around do you?

**Me** : Oh my god

**Luz** : I'm joking of course!

**Luz** : You know me and my jokes

**Me** : I do and that was definitely you being 100 percent serious.

**Luz** : You can't prove anything!

**Me** : Just let me know when you're done with your shift and ready to get picked up.

**Luz** : Will do!

**Me** : And no, I'm not going to be wearing the dumb fangs.

**Luz** : Aw

Amity was overtaken by a sudden flash of boldness and she had already sent her next message before her conscious mind had a chance to fully comprehend what she had typed out.

**Me** : But if you really want me to suck on your neck that badly you just have to ask me nicely

As soon as the message appeared on the screen Amity was already regretting it.

_That's way too far! That's a level beyond flirting, I'm basically just telling her outright just how badly I want to... well, not that there's anything wrong with wanting to do things like that with my girlfriend of course... but still!_

She waited for Luz's reply with bated breath for a period just under a minute that somehow managed to feel like an hour.

**Luz** : Um...

**Luz** : Do you promise?

Amity's last functioning synapse decided to short out at that moment. What little nuggets of scientific data she'd managed to squeeze into her overtaxed brain today were violently crowded out as her imagination took over and populated the now empty space with extremely vivid memories of all of the times that she had kissed Luz, as well as a number of speculations about other activities which they hadn't done together yet, but which Amity had found herself thinking of more and more often lately.

_Well, there goes the last chance of me getting anything useful done for the rest of this study break_ , she thought to herself.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Amity hadn't been surprised that Luz was interested in checking out her apartment since she had never been there before, but the enthusiasm Luz had shown in examining the living room was still a bit more intense than she had been expecting.

She had exclaimed out loud at the size of the room for one. Amity had to admit that it was somewhat larger than the one in Eda's apartment above her shop despite the fact that Amity was it's sole occupant. She still felt that it was a bit much to compare it to the school's athletics field though.

Luz had then pored over her bookshelf, gasping with delight when she had spotted Amity's special edition hardback copies of the Good Witch Azura series. Luz said that she only had the original paperback versions herself, but that one of hers had been signed by the author when she had met her at Azura-Con (Amity was NOT insanely jealous of this, and any suggestion otherwise would be completely unprovable). Luz had asked if she would be able to borrow several other titles from the shelf that looked interesting, and she made a small pile of various novels after Amity had agreed. Amity had added a recommendation of her own to the pile as well - a collection of horror short stories that she hoped might help Luz get more interested in exploring the genre.

Out of all of the objects in the room though, Luz was most captivated by the small row of framed photographs that Amity had hung on the wall which showed her posing with the various soccer teams that she had played in over the years from elementary all the way up to her senior year of high school.

Soccer may have started as a sport forced on her by her parents to gain a few more awards for the family trophy case, but Amity had grown to truly love playing it. Many of her fondest childhood memories revolved around her days on the field, basking in the cheers of her teammates when she helped them grind their opponents into the dirt.

Amity found herself wishing that she had taken all of those pictures down before bringing Luz over though. Especially after Luz had cooed over the oldest photo of "widdle baby Amity" standing proudly at the head of her junior league soccer team with a determined scowl on her face and her fists planted firmly on her hips like a miniature superhero.

"You look like the world's mightiest 8 year old," Luz said with a grin.

"I took being team captain very seriously," Amity replied with an embarrassed flush on her face.

"How come you're a blonde for all of these older pictures and then suddenly a brunette here?" Luz had asked when she had finally reached the photo of the team lineup for her final year playing with the Banshees, "Did you decide to dye your hair darker to fit more with your whole goth-jock fusion aesthetic?"

Amity shook her head.

"No, my mom used to make me dye it blonde so that we'd all match," Amity said.

"Wait, what?" Luz asked, turning to her with a puzzled expression.

"My mom and my two siblings are all blonde - mom thought it would look better for pictures if we were all 'color coordinated', so I had to get my hair dyed right up until my senior year when I told her I was done with it," Amity said.

"Wow," Luz said, "That's kind of..."

"Batshit crazy?" Amity supplied.

"I mean, I wasn't going to put it quite that way but yes - its totally fucking bonkers," Luz agreed.

"That's my mom, yeah - she can get really weird about some things. I think the only reason my dad didn't try to stop her when I complained was that he was scared that she'd make him dye his too," Amity said.

"Well, I'm glad I was able to meet you after you got your natural color back - it's a very pretty shade," Luz said as she reached out a hand to run a strand of Amity's chestnut brown hair between her fingers.

Amity felt her cheeks flush at the compliment- and at the feel of Luz's touch.

"Thanks. It wasn't easy to convince her - I finally had to threaten to only make salutatorian instead of valedictorian if she wouldn't let me change it back and she decided it wasn't worth the risk to find out if I was bluffing or not," Amity said.

Luz cocked an eyebrow at that statement.

"That sounds just the tiniest bit over-confident on your part," she said in a gently teasing tone.

"I was the top student in my grade every year while I was in high school," Amity said with a shrug, "over-confidence came with the territory."

"My friend Gus was the valedictorian in our class - he's an actual certified genius though, so I didn't feel too bad whenever he beat my test scores," Luz said.

Amity's brow wrinkled as she recalled what she knew of Luz's friend from her various stories.

"Isn't he also the same guy that you told me about who said that aliens were responsible for the sinking of Atlantis?" she asked.

"Genius and madness being close together is a cliché for a reason I guess," Luz said, "Sometimes I think he just likes to pick the craziest theories he can find to try and see if there's a way to argue them that could convince a non-crazy person to believe they are right. Like he's playing devil's advocate with reality as a hobby or something."

“Kind of a weird hobby to have,” Amity said.

“I don't know if you've noticed this about me yet Amity, but I don't exactly attract many non-weird friends,” Luz said with a shrug.

“Hey, what about me!” Amity objected.

“Yeah? What about you?” Luz asked rhetorically as her lips split into a teasing grin.

Amity was spared trying to find a response to that when she heard the doorbell ring, announcing the arrival of their dinner.

The pair retired to the apartment's dining area with a steaming box which contained a large vegan pizza from a local store. Amity wasn't a fan of whatever the odd, musty-tasting substance was that the restaurant had used as a substitute for cheese but she was glad that Luz seemed to enjoy it at least.

As they ate their conversation wandered between various topics – their progress in the latest assignments of their shared writing class, a funny anecdote Luz shared about a strange customer at the shop and a brief argument about whether candy corn counted as a vegetable (it didn't).

Amity wasn't sure how the conversation had circled around to fanfiction, but she found herself nodding along as Luz raved passionately about how difficult it was to write a good confession scene.

“It's so frustrating to balance them just right,” she said, “Especially since they are the climax of pretty much all shipping fics. Once the characters finally get around to saying how they feel there's usually just a kiss or two and a happily ever after and that's it for most stories.”

“Not all stories though,” Amity pointed out, “There are still a lot that start from the beginning with the characters already together in a relationship, or that continue on after they get together.”

“Well, yeah not all of them end right away of course,” Luz agreed, “But most of the time what people want to write about is the build up to starting a relationship – the big dramatic moment when one character realizes they have feelings for their rival or lots of scenes full of passionate angst and the over-the-top awkwardness about being unable to act like a functional human being around your crush-,”

“Something totally unrealistic and not at all like real life, of course,” Amity said dryly.

Luz had the good grace to blush at that.

“Okay, so it's not like some of that stuff doesn't have a basis in reality,” she conceded, “I know I was a tiny bit awkward around you before we started going out.”

“ _Absity_ ,” Amity said with a grin.

Luz groaned and buried her face into her palms.

“I never should have told you about that,” she said, “I should have taken that whole embarrassing incident to my grave.”

“I don't know - it's kind flattering to know that I had that much of an effect on you," Amity said.

"Have, not had," Luz said with a wink, "You're still ridiculously hot."

Amity felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. Half of her mind wanted to tell Luz just how attractive she found her. The way her short, soft mop of hair framed her face just right. How the warmth of Luz's dark brown eyes always melted Amity's brain into a puddle whenever she caught them with her own. The way that the plump curve of her lower lip drew Amity's eyes like a magnet and constantly tempted her to nibble it gently between her teeth.

The other half of her mind was utterly terrified about awkwardly stuttering it all out in a rush like a hormonal teenager meeting a movie star, and she squashed the impulse flat.

"If it makes you feel any better I had felt like a nervous wreck around you a lot too,” Amity replied, “I still do sometimes.”

Luz gave Amity a tender smile, then reached out a hand to cup Amity's face against her palm.

“You know that you don't have any reason to be nervous around me, right?” she said, “I already think you're pretty great.”

Amity sighed and pressed her cheek into Luz's hand, not unlike an affectionate cat.

_I've really missed this_ , Amity thought to herself as she luxuriated in the feel of Luz's skin pressing softly against her face, _It hasn't even been that long since we last spent time together and I'd already been missing her so much that it almost hurt._

A caress on the cheek was such a simple thing, but Amity had lived a life that was very low in the physical affection department. Ed and Em's way of showing love for their younger sister tended to lean more toward the side of very gentle bullying, and her parents seemed almost allergic to the idea of human contact.

Amity occasionally wondered if she and her siblings had been grown in a laboratory somewhere at Blight-Chem considering the fact that she had never seen her mother and father even kiss each other when they weren't posing for a picture.

Luz, on the other hand, was an endless source of hugs, gentle touches, held hands and much-needed human warmth in general. It had taken Amity a while to adjust to this, but once she had gotten over her initial stiffness at being so _close_ to another person she found that she almost couldn't get enough.

_I wonder if this counts as an addiction?,_ Amity thought to herself.

She opened her eyes and saw Luz giving her a small smile. Amity blinked twice and quickly sat upright, her face flushing bright red at the thought of how goofy and lovestruck she must have looked at that moment.

“So... we were talking about confession scenes, right?” Amity asked with a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah – I'm trying to figure out just how to word one in a new fic I'm working on," Luz said.

"What's the idea - another Azura/Hecate story?" Amity asked.

"Yeah, I thought it might be fun to do a high school AU type story with Azura and Hecate each wanting to ask the other to the prom, but in a rival-y kind of way,” Luz said.

At the mention of prom Amity felt a sting, quick and cold as an icicle jabbed at her heart.

"What do you mean by a rival-y way?" she asked, pushing down her discomfort.

“I was thinking maybe Azura suspects Hecate is going to ask her so she has to make her own promposal first and find a way to make it way more dramatic and over the top to 'beat' her,” Luz said, emphasizing her explanation with broad gestures of barely contained excitement, “and Hecate finds out and so she tries to up her game too. Pretty soon they are openly sabotaging each other because they want to be the one that wins.”

“Sounds like it's going to be a fun read,” Amity said, intrigued by the idea of the story.

“Thanks! I really hope it will be because it has been _such_ a pain to write it so far,” Luz said, “I'm low on real-world experience to draw on for that whole scenario since I just went to my prom in a group with Willow and Gus as friends. How about you? Do you have any good anecdotes that I could use for inspiration?”

There was an expectant pause that stretched on for a second or two past comfortable before Amity answered.

“I didn't actually go to mine,” she said.

“What, really?” Luz asked in an incredulous tone of voice, “I'd have thought that you were basically the template for the original prom queen that all other prom queens were based on.”

Amity couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter at that.

“I _had_ wanted to go,” Amity said, “but the girl I asked didn't want to go with me, and that sort of soured the whole prom concept for me. I kind of regret not going on my own sometimes just to have seen what it was like but it's just... well, it doesn't really matter now I guess.”

Luz looked like she wanted to ask for more information, but whatever look Amity had on her face had changed her mind. Amity carefully resettled her face back into a more neutral expression, hoping that she hadn't made Luz uncomfortable with her story.

Luz's eyes brightened in a look that Amity had come to know all too well - she was having an idea.

Her ratio of good ideas to bad ideas, in Amity's limited experience, was shaky at best but they were almost always interesting ideas either way.

"Would you maybe want to have a dance with me?" Luz asked.

"What, right now?" Amity asked.

"Yes, right now," Luz said, "Dinner and dancing is supposed to be a pretty classic type of date, right? Like something out of a black-and-white movie."

"I don't know Luz, I think I'd feel kind of silly," Amity said.

"We both missed out on having a big sappy romantic prom experience in high school and it's not like there's a college prom coming up that I can invite you to - are you really telling me I should pass up the chance to try and sweep my girlfriend off her feet now that I finally have one?" Luz said.

Amity glanced around her apartment.

"I'm not sure it'll be _quite_ the same experience as a prom here," she replied, though there was a smile creeping into Amity's voice as she said it.

"Your living room is already about the size of my old high school gym so just imagine that I'd hung up some crepe paper streamers and a disco ball that was missing half its mirrors and you'll have a decent idea of how things were at my prom," Luz said as she made a frame of her fingers and surveyed the living room like a director planning a scene for a movie.

"I'm underwhelmed already," Amity said in a dry voice.

Luz reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone and swiped her finger around the screen with practiced ease before she set it down on the table. Music began to play, a gentle lo-fi song with an insistent beat that wormed its way into the listeners ears and flowed into their limbs.

She offered her hand to Amity and gave her a small smile. Amity could see a shyness in Luz's eyes that she wasn't quite able to hide and she realized that Luz was just as nervous as she was about the idea.

Amity reached out and took Luz's hand, rising up from her seat to follow her in the large open space at the center of the living room.

It was awkward at first.

Amity didn't have much practice dancing outside of being dragged out onto the floor at parties by Boscha, who had usually been fairly drunk at that point, and it had been a long while since the last time she had done even that much.

Luz took Amity's hand and guided it down to her hip, and then placed her own hand on top of Amity's. She followed Luz's lead as they began to sway and move to the music.

"Now, if this were a real prom there would probably be a teacher nearby watching the dance floor like a hawk to make sure that we didn't get 'inappropriately' close," Luz said.

Luz pulled Amity in closer until their faces were mere inches apart.

"No one seems to be watching us here though," she added with a grin.

_Okay, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all_ , Amity thought to herself as her heart began to speed up from feeling Luz pressed against her.

It felt strangely natural to dance with Luz once she felt her initial nervousness fade away.

Despite the fact that they had never even done anything remotely like this before Amity found that they were able to match each others movements almost on instinct. Before long Amity couldn't keep a smile off her face as she just gave in to the pure joy of dancing together without any cares.

"Where did you learn to dance like this?" Amity asked.

"Willow taught me mostly," she said, "Apparently the way I moved at our first school dance when we were freshmen was so painful to watch that she started giving me lessons afterwards. A squirt bottle was involved if I'm remembering it right."

"I would have loved to see that," Amity said with a laugh.

Luz laughed along with her.

"I think I would have liked that too... do you think if I'd known you back then that we would have been friends?" she asked.

Amity felt something lurch inside her mind at the question, but as she looked back at Luz's smile she couldn't help but imagine what it might have been like to have had Luz in her life earlier. What it might have changed. Who she might have been now.

"I'd like to think we would have been," Amity answered as she spun Luz about her to the rhythm of the song.

"Maybe we would have even gone together to the real prom," Luz said with a wistful look in her eye.

Amity felt overwhelmed at that moment with something light and warm in her chest. All the tension of her day had melted away, replaced with the kind of bubbling energy that always filled her up when Luz was around.

Sliding her hand around to the small of Luz's back, Amity surprised her partner by dipping her. The look in Luz's eyes as she gazed up at Amity from her newly horizontal angle was both startled and incredibly pleased at the same time.

"From what you told me so far about prom, I think our dance here was better," Amity said, "Since I probably couldn't have done this at the real one."

She bent low and pressed her lips to Luz's with almost bruising intensity. Luz slid her arms up Amity's sides and around her shoulders as she kissed her back fiercely.

Amity completely lost track of herself between the sound of music in the air, the warmth of Luz in her arms and the feel of her own heartbeat hammering in her chest. When Luz sighed happily into her lips and tangled her fingers in Amity's hair she felt as though her knees might give way, but Amity managed to remain standing through sheer force of will.

It was strange how every kiss with Luz felt just a little different from the one before. This one had a distinct electric savor to it, full of energy and hunger.

Amity never wanted it to end.

It eventually had to of course. Even two people who are hopelessly lost in their mutual need for one another have to breathe at some point.

"Yeah, that probably would have gotten us yelled at if we tried it at the real prom," Luz said in a stunned voice when they had finally broken the kiss.

The song that had been playing came to an end without warning, only to be replaced by an incredibly annoying commercial ad.

Luz gave Amity a sheepish grin and went to retrieve her phone from the table, shutting it down before the advertisement could continue ruining the moment.

Amity felt the thrum of nervous energy in the pit of her stomach start to wind up once more as Luz walked back over to her. She realized, with a start, that this may have been the first time that they were truly alone with each other. There would be no roommates coming to the apartment to interrupt them, no classes that either of them had to rush off to attend and no one dressed as a monster ready to pop out and ruin a perfectly good mood as had happened at least once or twice during their visit to the haunted house.

There was just Amity and Luz.

"So," Luz said as she rubbed a pensive hand across her upper arm, "What would you like to do right now?"

Several fairly graphic suggestions immediately stampeded to the forefront of Amity's mind.

"Um... did you still want to watch a movie?" she asked instead.

Luz's eyes darted off to the side.

"Sure... if you wanted to watch one that is," she said.

A nervous chuckle had punctuated her pauses, and Amity could sense that Luz might not have been in the mood to properly appreciate film at the moment.

"What would you want to do instead if I don't want to watch one?" Amity asked, feeling like the worlds biggest coward for kicking the question back to Luz.

"Well...," Luz began, "Would you want to maybe show me the rest of the apartment?"

Amity was nonplussed by the question.

_Kind of a weird request - it's not really_ _ **that**_ _big of an apartment_ , Amity thought, _She's already seen the kitchen and the living room. The only part she hasn't seen yet is the bedroo-_

_Oh._

_Oooooh!_

_Oh?_

Amity had always thought that she had understood nervousness - that it was an emotion which she was intimately familiar with. She realized that what she had felt before every crucial exam, writing critique or championship game was a pale shadow of what she felt in this moment.

She swallowed the bowling ball sized lump that had mysteriously gotten lodged in her throat and nodded, holding out a hand for Luz to take.

"Sure," she said, "Let me give you the grand tour."

  
  


* * *

  
  


Time had passed, though exactly how much time Amity could not say for certain.

All of the fantasies she'd had and stories which she had read about this situation had been generally right, though they had gotten quite a few details wrong. They hadn't seemed to accurately capture the mixture of awkwardness and tenderness that had swirled between her and Luz. The nervous giggles that had been mixed in with the anticipated sighs and moans. The unique moment when they had locked eyes in the middle of it all and Amity felt as though there was an instant of almost telepathic understanding between them.

The truth was so much more _interesting_ than the stories, and Amity was glad that she knew this now.

"Well that was _interesting_ ," Luz said in a breathless voice from where she lay beside her, echoing Amity's own silent thoughts so closely that she felt a startled shiver travel down her spine.

The soft curls of Luz's hair jutted out from her head in a way that was even messier than usual and Amity couldn't decide if it looked adorable, hot or some unique mixture of both.

"Interesting-good or interesting-bad?" Amity asked, a nervous grin flickering across her lips.

"Oh, definitely interesting-good," Luz said quickly, "Interesting-great even."

"Interesting-fantastic," Amity agreed.

"Interesting-some synonym for nice that my brain is way too fried to think of right now," Luz said.

“Yeah,” Amity said.

There was a beat of silence, but it was a calm and comfortable silence. Neither of the pair had enough tension left in them at the moment to manage a proper awkward silence.

The only sounds in the room were their deep breathing and the rustle of bedsheets as Luz turned on her side and then snaked an arm around Amity's torso to pull her in closer. Her skin was still fever-hot, and when Amity rested her hand against Luz's collarbone she could feel that her pulse had slowed back down from its earlier, frantic rhythm.

“Have you ever...” Amity began, but then stopped herself before she could complete the question.

Still, the unspoken words hung in the air.

“No,” Luz answered in a slightly nervous voice, “Was it that obvious?”

Amity shook her head quickly.

“No... or, I don't think so anyway. I haven't ever really done this either... I mean, never anything this far that is,” she replied, her sentences tangling each other as they left her mouth.

“I'm so glad you invited me over tonight,” Luz said, “I've really missed seeing you lately.”

Amity tightened her arms around Luz's torso and gave her a hard squeeze.

“I'd missed you too,” she said.

Luz leaned in to plant a gentle kiss against Amity's lips and then pressed their foreheads together.

“Hey, can you guess what I'm thinking right now?” she asked.

“I couldn't even begin to guess what goes on inside that skull of yours,” Amity answered honestly.

Luz chuckled.

“Rude,” she said, “But fair.”

“Well, what are you thinking then?” Amity asked.

“Just that I didn't manage to get any new inspiration for that prom fic, but at least now I've finally gotten some firsthand experiences to draw from if I wanted to write more smut,” Luz said.

Amity snorted out a laugh at the absurdity of the statement.

“Glad I could help you with your very important research then,” she said with gentle sarcasm.

“Well, they say you should try to write what you know,” Luz said, “and I think I definitely know a lot more now than I did before.”

“Are you planning a sequel to _A Touch of Magic_ too then?” Amity asked.

Luz shot Amity a surprised look.

“Wait... how do you know that title?” she asked.

_Oh crap_ , Amity thought.

“Uh... I may have read it a while ago... and also most of the other smut stories on your page,” Amity confessed.

“Oh my god, you've got to tell me what you thought of them immediately!” Luz said.

Amity briefly fantasized about the possibility of gnawing off her arm to escape this turn in the conversation but discarded it as impractical.

“They were... interesting,” she replied.

“Interesting is such a versatile word isn't it?” Luz said with a teasing grin.

“You're so weird- you know that right?” Amity asked.

“Does that mean that you don't want to help me conduct some more research then?” Luz asked with a mischievous lilt to her voice.

The small spark of heat that had grown dim inside of Amity as she had laid resting beside Luz began to flare back to life once again.

“I didn't say _that_ ,” she said.

“Good,” Luz replied as she leaned in to plant another kiss against Amity's lips.

_Well, I definitely feel much less stressed right now,_ Amity found herself thinking as she felt herself sink into the kiss.

_This might not have been quite what Dr. Clawthorne had in mind when she told me to do something to relax, but I can't say it wasn't effective._

_I think I'll keep this to myself during my next therapy session though._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this was worth the wait for anyone that had been wanting a new chapter of this fic!
> 
> As always feedback is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone that left comments on the last chapter! I was a bit worried about it since it was much longer than any previous chapter and also lead to a ratings change, but the positive feedback was super encouraging!

It had not been a good morning so far and the weather had done nothing to improve Luz's opinion of it. She had always loved the rain, but the autumn storm which raged outside was far removed from the gentle spring showers that Luz had enjoyed so much back in her hometown.

A rumble of thunder crashed through the sky and made the window panes of Eda's apartment rattle in their frames. Sheets of icy rain had transformed the view outside those windows into a grey haze punctuated by the dim glow of traffic lights fading off into the distance.

Luz paced the floor of the living room, shooting searching glances out of the window whenever her circular course brought her back around to them.

Still nothing.

_I hope she's safe... why did I call her? What was I thinking? I should have called an ambulance-_

"I keep telling you, I'm fine," Eda snapped in a hoarse voice, interrupting the stream of Luz's thoughts.

Luz halted her frantic pacing and turned to face the older woman who was slumped back against the living room couch in a strangely boneless way.

"Eda, you are definitely not fine," Luz shot back with an unaccustomed sharpness in her own voice, "You were unconscious for way too long to be _fine_ \- we need to get you to a doctor."

Eda growled low in her throat, but it was a weak sound and not at all as intimidating as she probably had intended it to be.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not _fine,_ but I've been dealing with this crap since I was even younger than you are now," she said, "Going to see a doctor for one little flare-up would just be a waste of time and money."

Luz had been doing her best to keep it together ever since she had found Eda passed out on the living room floor but for some reason it was the older woman's casual acceptance of the situation that nearly pushed her over the edge. Her eyeballs grew hot and she squeezed them shut to blink the tears away before they could begin falling in earnest.

"This is the worst one I've ever seen you have," Luz insisted as she fought to keep her voice steady, "If they can do anything to help you then it's worth it."

Eda had shuffled herself up straighter against the back of the couch and seemed like she was about to reply when a horrific shriek split the air.

"HOOT'S THERE?" echoed its way up the stairwell from the speakers hooked up to the doorbell.

A feminine scream that combined both surprise and fury floated up from outside the window.

Luz bolted to the window to look down at the street below and spotted the familiar outlines of the car parked up front. She felt a surge of relief deep in her chest at the sight.

"Amity's here!" she said.

"What's your girlfriend doing here anyway?" Eda mumbled in a groggy voice.

"I'm obviously not going to drag you to the doctor's office on the back of the scooter when you can't even stand up - Amity has a car," Luz said over her shoulder as she darted toward the stairway which led to the front door.

Of course Luz knew that had only been part of the reason why she had called Amity, and it was far from the most important one.

She took the stairs down two at a time, and when she threw the door open she found Amity standing beneath the awning with a piercing glare locked on her face.

"Are you okay?" Luz asked, taken aback by Amity's expression.

_Is she mad at me? I knew I shouldn't have asked her to come here - especially not in a storm this bad._

"Yeah, I was just feeling distracted and had forgotten about that _thing_ ," Amity said, jerking her thumb toward the now dormant doorbell-owl.

Luz was surprised just how much loathing and venom Amity could pack into the word 'thing'.

"Thank you so much for coming," Luz said, stepping forward to wrap her arms tight around her girlfriend, "I was really freaking out earlier and didn't know what I was going to do."

Amity folded her own arms around Luz to return the hug. Neither of them seemed to care that Amity had been soaked through to her skin by the freezing November rain from the short trip between the car and the door.

"Are you doing okay? How's Eda feeling?" Amity asked quietly.

 _I'm feeling so much better now_ , Luz thought to herself.

She took a deep breath. After a morning crammed full of chaos and uncertainty she finally felt as though she was standing on solid ground once more.

"She's fully awake now, and being extremely crabby about it," Luz said.

"Are you going to need help getting her downstairs?" Amity asked.

"Probably. I'm sure between the two of us we could get her into the car," Luz grumbled, "Just watch out for her elbows, she likes to fight dirty."

Amity cocked a quizzical eyebrow.

"Eda keeps saying that she doesn't want to go," Luz explained, "And I don't imagine she'll make it easy for us if we try to force her."

"Why don't we see if we can try talking things out with her a bit more before we jump straight to kidnapping?" Amity suggested.

Luz gave a quick nod and then blew out a long, shuddering breath.

"Yeah, you're right. That would probably be for the best," she said, scrubbing at her still-stinging eyes with the back of her hand.

The two arrived in the living room just in time to see Eda rise up to her feet off of the couch with her arms splayed wide for balance. She wobbled slightly but when she did not topple over she gave a grunt of satisfaction and then straightened to her full height.

"See? I told you there was nothing to worry about. I'm already good as new again," Eda said with a haggard grin stretched across her lips.

"That's good,” Amity said in a brisk voice, “Do you have a preferred clinic? The only place I know is the campus health center, but I don't think they take non-student patients."

Eda turned toward Amity and crossed her arms.

"Sorry to make you drive all this way through the rain for no reason, but I'm not interested in seeing a doctor at the moment," she replied.

"Eda, we really should go," Luz said in a pleading tone of voice.

She turned the full force of her puppy-dog eyes on Eda, who flinched and took a half step back from the sight. Luz knew how difficult it was for Eda to resist that look, and she only used it sparingly to preserve its power for emergencies.

"I feel alright now - and there's nothing they can do to help with an attack that's already passed anyway," Eda insisted, quickly averting her eyes from Luz's face.

"Look, I'm sure you're probably right - you know your situation better than either of us do," Amity said in a calm voice, "but do you really want Luz here to be worried sick to death about you just because you were too stubborn to go get a little check up?"

Eda's eyes darted back to Luz and she received another dose of Luz's deep brown eyes, wide and glistening with unshed tears.

"Yeah Eda, if you won't do it for yourself then would you please do it for me?" Luz asked in a quiet voice.

 _I hope I didn't lay it on too thick there_ , she thought to herself.

Eda growled again, but there was a note of defeat rather than defiance in the sound this time.

"Well, it just so happens that I _am_ overdue for my yearly physical," Eda grumbled, "So I guess I can go get that done and _maybe_ also mention today's totally-minor incident too while I'm there."

Luz blew out a sigh of relief.

 _Glad she's cooperating now - I'm not sure that we'd be able to get her into the car otherwise, even with Amity's jock strength on our side_ , she thought.

"Okay then, let's get going already – there's no time to lose," she said.

Eda held up a hand and shook her head.

"Let's wait for the storm to die down a little first," she said, "It's coming down hard out there and I'd rather we do this when it's safer to drive."

Luz was about to protest, but Amity put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"She has a good point," Amity said, "It was kind of nerve wracking driving over here through all that. It would be dumb to risk us all getting injured or killed in a car accident while on the way to see a doctor."

Eda chuckled.

"Yeah, that's just the kind of sick joke that the universe loves to pull," she agreed, "Let's not tempt fate."

"Okay, that's fair," Luz agreed, "but once this rain is done we're going - no ifs, ands or buts."

"Yes, moooom," Eda groaned out in a fairly decent impression of a long-suffering teenager.

"That really was kind of a mom-thing to say," Amity said, "Well, minus the casual emotional abuse that is."

"Hah! Even Amity agrees with me," Eda said with a triumphant grin.

"Fine, maybe I'm being a bit motherly right now but that's only because this one-," Luz paused to point an accusing finger at Eda, "-can be a real baby sometimes."

Amity opened her mouth to say something else but then stopped. A complicated expression flickered across her face, but before Luz could ask what was wrong Amity let out a kittenish sneeze that sent rain droplets spattering out around her shaking shoulders.

"Oh shoot - we need to get you out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold," Luz said.

"Total mom," Eda said in a dry voice.

Luz, with what she felt was an air of great dignity, pointedly ignored Eda's comment and took Amity by the hand.

"Come on, let's find you something dry to wear," she said as she pulled Amity after her toward her room in the attic.

"Try not to make too much noise while you're up there undressing her will you? I'm sick, not deaf," Eda called out from the couch in a mocking tone.

Luz, who had been thinking nothing of the kind felt her face flush a fiery shade of red. A quick glance back at Amity showed that her girlfriends face was also burning bright.

Obviously nothing _suggestive_ had been on her mind when she'd made the suggestion but that didn't change the fact that Luz was now fully aware that she was, in fact, leading Amity up to her room to do just what Eda had said.

 _Though not for spicy fun reasons_ , Luz objected in her mind.

 _Unfortunately_.

 _Bad brain! This is_ _ **not**_ _the time for that kind of idea right now_ , Luz thought, quickly shutting down that particular train of thought before it could leave the station and then ripping the tracks up for good measure.

It took two passes through Luz's available wardrobe before Amity was able to select an outfit which she would willing to be seen out in public wearing - a plain but well made navy blue sweater which Amity had helped her pick out a few weeks ago and a pair of black denim jeans that had faded to a comfortable charcoal grey in the wash. Luz was only slightly miffed that Amity hadn't taken any of her own suggestions despite the fact that Luz knew deep in her heart that Amity would have looked fantastic in her old cat-eared hoodie.

Luz darted out of the room to give Amity plenty of privacy to change even without being asked for it, for reasons of her own that had nothing to do with Eda's earlier comment.

She leaned in front of the door to her room after it clicked shut and hummed softly to herself as she waited for Amity to finish getting dressed.

For some reason this seemed to be taking longer than she had expected.

Luz grew curious when she heard a frustrated grunt and some muffled swearing coming from the other side.

"Are you okay in there?" Luz asked.

There was a beat of silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Amity said, "I'm just having a hard time getting into your pants."

There was a longer beat of silence.

_Come on Luz... you need to resist! You can do it -_

"Really? I thought I'd made it pretty easy for you," Luz replied.

_Damn it!_

_Oh what have I done?_ , Luz thought to herself.

"I'd be mad at you right now," Amity said from behind the door, "but honestly, I walked right into that one."

Luz breathed out a sigh of relief knowing that her relationship would survive her sense of humor for another day.

When the door swung open once more Luz saw that Amity had selected a different pair of jeans instead - a dark blue pair which Luz had always found a little too loose to be totally comfortable.

 _Makes sense_ , Luz thought, _I'm a bit taller than Amity but she's a bit wider in the hips._

"Looking good," Luz said with a smile.

"Thanks for lending them to me," Amity replied, "I'll be sure to wash them and give them back later."

"I'm sorry for asking you to come all the way out here in the rain and getting you soaked like that in the first place," Luz said.

"Don't be," Amity said quickly, "I'm glad I can be here to help when you need it."

A warm feeling bloomed up in Luz's chest when she heard the sincerity in Amity's voice but a stab of guilt followed behind it - sudden and sharp.

"I was really scared earlier," she said, "and all I could think of was that I should call you - that you'd be able to help. I'm sorry if that's asking too much though - I don't want to burden you down with this stuff, I know you've got your own things to deal with."

Before Luz could say another word Amity had stepped in close and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Don't ever feel bad about asking me for help," Amity whispered in a surprisingly firm voice, "I'm going to be here for you when you need me, got it?"

Luz squeezed Amity back tightly.

"Yeah, I got it," she said, "Same for you too - if you need me, I'm there."

Amity tilted her head and planted a fond kiss on Luz's cheek.

"I already knew you'd say that," she said, "Why do you think I fell for you in the first place?"

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz always felt that 'waiting room' was an inadequate name for the front area of a doctor's office. It was technically correct, but a poor description for the actual experience of being stuck in one. The name did nothing to capture either the soul-grinding tedium or the stomach churning apprehension that she felt after Eda had been called in for her consultation.

Amity sat in the chair beside her, and their fingers were tangled together in a loose hold.

"It sure is taking a while," Amity said, which Luz felt was the understatement of the century.

"It always does," Luz replied, "At least, that's how it always went whenever Eda brought me along with her for company."

"Does she do that a lot?" Amity asked.

Luz shrugged.

"Eda hates being bored and apparently finds me amusing," she said.

"Well, you are pretty fun to talk to - terrible jokes aside," Amity said.

"I know that you actually love my jokes, but the fact that you still pretend so hard not to is cute," Luz replied.

"Okay, let's put that particular delusion aside for now," Amity said, "Is it okay if I want to ask something incredibly nosy?"

Luz saw a hesitant look on Amity's face and realized that whatever question she was holding back must feel fairly important to her.

"Sure, nose away," Luz said.

"How exactly is Eda actually related to you? I know you told me that she's your 'mentor' but that explains basically nothing and not knowing has been driving me crazy for weeks," Amity said.

"It's kind of a weird story," Luz said.

"Half of all the stories that you've told me about yourself start out that exact same way," Amity said.

"Are you at all surprised by that?" Luz asked.

"Not really," Amity said, "but please go on."

Luz leaned her head back and stared up at the dull speckled grey ceiling tiles as the memories flooded back.

It felt strange - it had only been a few years, but it all felt so much longer to her.

"When I was younger I was...," Luz paused and tried to find the right word, "kind of a handful." 

"What do you mean?" Amity asked.

"I was getting in trouble all the time at school. Not for things like vandalism, bad grades, drugs or any of the other usual reasons like that - it was more for stuff like causing a school-wide panic after my book report kind of went off the rails," Luz answered.

"How did you manage that one?" Amity interrupted.

"Some people are just real wimps about snakes," Luz said with a casual shrug.

"What does that -," Amity began.

"Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?" Luz said.

"Fine," she said, "But you're telling me more about the snake thing later."

"Anyway, the principal of my old school convinced my mom to send me to the _worst_ summer camp in the world to try and 'fix' me and make me more normal," Luz said.

Amity said nothing, but her expression spoke volumes to Luz.

"Obviously it didn't stick," Luz said in response, "but boy, did they try. I ended up running away after only spending a week there – they'd stuck me in a place the other kids called _The Box_ when they caught me doing some creative writing during my checkbook balancing class. A whole two days locked alone in an empty cabin with only outdated books on tax law for reading material convinced me that I needed to get out of that place."

"Tax law? That's inhuman," Amity said, and she gave Luz's hand a sympathetic squeeze.

"Looking back now I can see that it was a really stupid and dangerous thing to do - a fourteen year old girl wandering around alone on the road is a tragic headline waiting to happen," Luz said, "but thankfully instead of being found by a bloodthirsty psycho I was picked up by Eda instead. She'd been taking a vacation at the time and traveling across the country in this big weird van with a huge owl airbrushed on the side."

"You are super lucky that you didn't get murdered if you thought that getting into random vans on the roadside was a good plan," Amity said.

"I know, I know - Eda told me almost the exact same thing when she found me," Luz said, "Anyway she listened to my story and then decided to drive me straight back to my mom's house after I'd told her everything. I'd already been missing from the camp for a few days at that point and mom was sick with worry. I couldn't even call her to let her know that I was on the way back since they'd taken our phones on the first day at camp. Mom was obviously super mad at me when we got there, and very grateful to Eda for bringing me back safely. They ended up talking for a while and Eda convinced her, don't ask me how, that sticking me in that camp and trying to force me to change against my will wasn't healthy. I ended up spending the rest of the summer working at Eda's shop as a way to learn responsibility instead. I also learned how to scam gullible customers, but I left that part out whenever mom called to ask how my summer was going."

"Wow," Amity said, "That really is a pretty crazy story."

"Yeah," Luz said, "She's kept in touch with me and my mom ever since then - sometimes she'd even show up for holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas when we invited her. Eda just sort of became part of the family. When I graduated and told her that Hexside was one of the schools that I was considering going to she even offered to let me stay with her here rent-free. I really owe her a lot."

"No wonder you've been so worried about her," Amity said.

Luz nodded.

"Eda may have been making fun of me for acting so protective of her earlier, but sometimes I feel that she's almost been like a second mom to me. Or at least a really cool aunt anyway," she said, "And the idea of anything bad happening to her is... I don't even want to think about it."

Amity gave Luz's hand another comforting squeeze, and Luz felt some of her anxiety fade at the feel of that gentle pressure.

 _I should find some way to lighten the mood_ , she thought.

_I don't want Amity to worry about me too much... She already has a lot on her plate._

Luz pulled her phone out from her pocket and scrolled through it. She passed the next half hour hunting down the funniest images she could find either online or saved on her phone to see how hard she could make her girlfriend laugh. Amity pulled her own phone out after the second time she got a dirty look from the receptionist from cracking up and it became a contest between them.

By the time the door to the examination room opened up once more and Eda had stepped out both of the young women had the stiff, red faces of two people who were each trying their absolute hardest to hold back a laugh. The look the receptionist was giving them could have flash-frozen lava.

Luz stood bolt upright at the sight of Eda and shot her a questioning look.

Eda gave her a crooked, but still reassuring smile.

"It's just like I told you earlier - I'm mostly fine," Eda assured her, "Apparently I was overworking myself and need to rest more. I'm not in any actual danger and there's nothing new and terrible happening with my condition - just the regular old kind of terrible stuff."

Luz breathed out a deep sigh of relief.

"Okay , well that's good," she said, "I'm going to make sure you get that rest then."

“You don't need to go overboard,” Eda assured her.

“I won't,” Luz promised, “I just want you to be able to relax a bit. I'll make you some soup when we get home.”

Eda rolled her eyes.

“It's a chronic illness kid, not a cold – you can't chase it away with chicken noodles,” she said, “But I appreciate the thought.”

“I'll make you some soup anyway – it's not like a bowl of soup can make things worse,” Luz said.

Eda glanced over and saw that Amity was smirking at her obvious discomfort from having Luz fuss over her so much.

“Laugh it up now princess, but don't think that you'll be able to escape from having this one smothering you the second you get a sniffle,” Eda said.

“I do not smother!” Luz objected.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The chime of a cell phone broke the silence in Luz's attic bedroom and jerked her out of an uneasy sleep.

She sat up in the bed and scrubbed a hand across her tired eyes, then glanced around her room in surprise. Somehow the night had snuck up on Luz without her noticing.

It had still only been the early evening when she had closed her eyes in a several-hours-long blink. The last thing Luz remembered had been trying to wrestle with the topic for a philosophy paper she needed to finish before the end of the week.

A paper which, she recalled guiltily, she still hadn't actually started writing yet.

Luz grimaced as she glanced down and realized that she had also drooled on the textbook which she had passed out on while reading up more on the subject for her paper.

 _I hope that doesn't bring the value down too much when I have to sell it back to the bookstore at the end of the semester,_ she thought to herself.

Luz's phone chimed again, impatiently reminding her that she still hadn't answered the text which had woken her up in the first place. She fumbled the phone out from her pocket and swiped her way to her messages screen.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Either Boscha is the world's biggest moron, or she thinks that I am

 **Me** : What did she do now?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Oh not much

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She just decided to make me a peace offering after pissing me off for the millionth time

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So she gave me a little grungy plastic bag of seeds to grow since she knows I'm "horny for plants"

 **Me** : Kind of annoyed that you decided to share something so personal with your jerk roommate and not your best friend, but whatever

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Haha. Anyway, it took me about two seconds and one sniff to realize that it was obviously weed

 **WILLOWthewisp** : So either Boscha wants me to sprout them so she can call the campus police and get me kicked out, or else she thinks that I'm somehow not going to know what one of the most famous plants in the world looks like and is trying to use me to grow her own personal supply

 **Me** : Wow. What are you going to do?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Well, I'm not going to grow illegal drugs in my dorm room that's for damn sure

 **Me** : Smart.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I think I'll try and find a plant that looks similar enough and grow those instead, that way she'll look dumb in case either one of those was her plan. Maybe a hibiscus – they have similar looking leaves and really nice flowers

 **Me** : Seems like a good idea - and it gives you a chance to do a big dramatic reveal too if she tries to betray you.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : That did cross my mind. Just the thought of seeing the look on Boscha's face when all her dreams of messing with me come crashing down gives me a warm feeling in my heart

 **Me** : I think Boscha was off a bit there - you may like plants, but your true love seems to be revenge.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Revenge is pretty hot sure, but I wouldn't say that I love it.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : We've got a casual thing going. No labels.

 **Me** : Heh

 **WILLOWthewisp** : How are things going with you?

 **Me** : Good mostly

 **Me** : I've been taking extra shifts at the shop to give Eda more time to rest and recover

 **Me** : I've also tried to do more around the house so that she'll be able to just lie back and relax like the doctor had said she needed to

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I don't imagine she's been making that super easy for you

 **Me** : Ugh

 **Me** : Yeah, it's been a little bit of a trial. Eda HATES it whenever I try to make her get back in bed instead of doing whatever crazy thing she's decided she wants to do instead.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : To be fair, being stuck in bed all day seems boring as fuck

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Plus it's been like, 4 days since the incident right?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : How much more rest could she need?

 **Me** : Oh, don't you start now.

 **Me** : Eda is already getting after me about it all the time. She keeps telling me I'm spending too much time trying to nurse her and neglecting everything else.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : She might have a point though? You tend to go a little overboard when someone gets sick

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Last time I had a cold you ended up making me so much soup that I thought I was going to die of chicken poisoning

 **Me** : You remember that my mom is a nurse right? Taking care of people is in my blood.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : You need to take care of yourself too

 **Me** : I have been!

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Have you really?

Luz was about to send back a very stern “Yes!” but felt a pang of guilt when she realized that it wouldn't be entirely true.

The last few days had been something of a blur, but she knew that she hadn't been sleeping as much as she normally did. She had also missed a few sessions of her classes since she tried to spend as much time back at the apartment to keep an eye on Eda as possible.

Just earlier that afternoon Eda had told her, in an extremely exasperated voice, that if Luz didn't slow down and take a rest herself that she'd be the one stuck in bed and needing to be looked after.

What was worse is that Luz suspected that she was probably right.

 **Me** : Well, okay.

 **Me** : I guess I haven't.

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Called it

 **Me** : Alright, so I know that Eda probably isn't in any danger now. She wasn't even really in any danger then, just overworked and tired.

 **Me** : It was really scary when I thought that she was though and I guess I'm just trying to make myself feel like I'm doing something useful so I don't have to think about it

 **WILLOWthewisp** : If you want to do something useful then maybe you could start studying more? Finals are coming up really soon

 **WILLOWthewisp** : I'm pretty sure Eda wouldn't feel great if you ended up failing your tests because you spent all your free time fluffing her pillows instead of getting ready for exams

Luz winced as she read the text. Her friend was right of course - the semester was nearly over now and she would need to do well on her finals if she wanted to maintain the high GPA required to keep her scholarship.

She had just been so caught up with everything relating to Eda's illness that she'd almost completely forgotten about them.

Luz knew that she wouldn't be any good to Eda if she ended up losing her scholarship and was no longer able to attend Hexside.

Not to mention the thought of no longer being able to see Amity again either if she had to transfer to a more affordable school closer to her hometown.

The arrival of that thought in Luz's mind felt like a splash of ice-water had been injected straight into her veins.

 **Me** : You've got a point there

 **Me** : Thanks for looking out for me Willow. I don't know what I'd do without you

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Probably the same stuff you usually do, but you'd still be single

 **Me** : You're never going to let that one go are you?

 **WILLOWthewisp** : Nope

  
  


* * *

  
  


_Okay, last one - I've got this_ , Luz thought to herself.

She shifted about on the still-weird-to-her texture of the overstuffed leather couch, trying to get comfortable once again. Amity's apartment was definitely much larger than Eda's, but the furniture took some getting used to.

"Name the six periods of the Paleozoic era in order!" Amity demanded, holding the flash card tight to her face like a poker player with an unusually small hand.

Luz gnawed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to dredge up the answer from her memories of geology class and frantic last few days of cramming. She brought her arms up to her face and pressed the heels of her hands against her closed eyes as she concentrated.

“Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and... uh... crap... Permian?” Luz said.

Amity tilted her head and gave a long, drawn-out hum.

“Are you sure?” she asked, flashing Luz a sharp stare over the top of the flash card.

“Yes! Like... fifty percent sure at least,” Luz said.

“Well,” Amity said, “If you're positive that you don't want to change your answer...”

“Did I get it right or not?” Luz demanded.

“You did, actually,” Amity said.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief.

Amity reached out a hand and gave Luz's shoulder a firm squeeze.

“Sorry for giving you a hard time about this, but it's better if you feel like you really _know_ your answers instead of just thinking of them as the best guess,” she said.

“Yeah, I know you're right,” Luz said, “There's just a lot of specific terminology in this class. It doesn't help that half of these Eras and Eons that I'm supposed to be memorizing already sound like the names of characters from a bad fantasy novel.”

Amity laughed, and the clear, spontaneous sound brought a smile to Luz's face.

“I can see it now that you mention it – _the young hero Cambrian must seek out the ancient wizard Silurian to save the kingdom_ ,” Amity said in a chanting voice, accompanied by a sweeping hand gesture.

“ _Yes, but along the way she must battle the minions of the evil sorcerer Holocene, who will do anything to prevent the Cretaceous Prophecy from coming true_ ,” Luz added in a similarly bombastic voice.

“It sounds deeply terrible,” Amity said.

“Oh yeah,” Luz agreed, “Just wall to wall clichés as far as the eye can see.”

“You'd still read it wouldn't you?” Amity said.

“In a heartbeat,” Luz said, “You can learn almost as much from reading an awful book as you can from a good one.”

“How does that work exactly?” Amity asked.

“Well, for one thing figuring out what you dislike about it is a good way to learn how not to make those same mistakes in your own writing,” she said, “And for another it can be really encouraging to just read some terrible garbage and realize that if it can get published then surely you can too one day.”

“That's probably not the sort of inspiration the author was hoping to give their audience when they wrote it,” Amity said in a dry voice.

“No artist can control how their work is viewed by the public,” Luz said with a lofty wave of her hand.

There was a brief pause as Amity sorted through the stacks of flash cards, counted up the number which Luz had answered correctly against the ones she had missed and then did some quick mental math.

“Well, even if you are still feeling a little shaky about your grasp of geology that didn't stop you from getting most of the questions right,” Amity said with an encouraging smile.

“How many is most?” Luz asked.

“Let's call it a bit more than eighty percent but less than ninety – so a solid 'B' at least,” Amity said.

Luz gave a dissatisfied grunt.

“I can still do better,” she insisted, “I want to ace all of these exams so that I can build up a nice buffer for my GPA to protect me when I start taking classes that are actually hard later.”

Amity raised a curious eyebrow at that.

“That's an interesting strategy you've got,” she said.

Luz shrugged.

“Well, my scholarship is for creative writing – and I only really care about learning and practicing the writing stuff. Taking super-basic classes for my other requirements just seemed like the best way to keep my GPA high and allow me to focus on the things that I actually need to learn,” she said.

Amity leaned back against the creaking leather upholstery of the couch and frowned.

“I wish I'd been able to do something like that – almost all of the classes on my schedule are a total pain in the ass, even the ones that have nothing to do with my major,” she said.

“Why did you sign up for them?” Luz asked.

“Because if I just took the minimum requirements I wouldn't be 'living up to my potential as a Blight' according to my dad,” she said.

Luz felt a stab of guilt when she saw the irritated look that crossed Amity's face as she said that.

“Are you sure that you've got the time to help me study my stuff then? I don't want to distract you too much from your own work since it sounds a lot harder,” she said.

Amity quickly shook her head.

“No, trust me – what I need most right now is something to distract me. I was going to go crazy if I had nothing to do but bury myself in formulas and equations for another night in a row,” she said.

Luz leaned across the couch to give Amity a quick kiss, just barely ghosting their lips against each other, and then pulled back with a teasing smile when Amity had tried to lean into it.

“Well, I'm always happy to provide a distraction whenever you need it,” she said, “And if a study-date is the only kind of date we can have during exam week then I'll take it.”

Amity had made a frustrated murmuring sound in her throat when Luz had pulled back from the kiss, and her face flushed red when she realized that Luz had heard it.

“Maybe distraction was the wrong word to use,” she said, “This is more like... a break. Something to help remind me that life is more than just work all the time.”

"I still feel kind of bad that you are using your big break from studying to help me do my studying though," Luz said.

"Don't worry about it," Amity assured her, "I'm just happy to spend some time together, and to help you out too."

Luz felt a warm pulse in her chest at the sight of Amity's smile, and allowed herself to relax back against the overstuffed leather cushions of the couch.

"If you want to help motivate me a bit more then maybe you can give me a reward whenever I get a question right?" Luz suggested with a smile.

"What sort of reward did you have in mind?" Amity asked.

Luz rubbed a thoughtful knuckle across her lower lip and hummed theatrically.

"How about I get a kiss for each correct answer?" Luz said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Amity paused in the middle of shuffling the stacks of flash cards and turned to Luz with a speculative look on her face.

"I can't say that I've ever tried studying that way before," Amity said.

"I respond well to positive reinforcement," Luz said.

Luz was about to wave a hand and dismiss the idea as the joke she had half-intended it to be, but the interested look in Amity's face sealed her mouth shut.

"Okay," Amity said, "Let's give it a try then."

The first question was one that Luz had missed last time, but this time the correct answer was fresh in her mind and she was able to answer with confidence.

Amity leaned in and planted a quick peck on Luz's cheek and then returned to her place on the couch and picked up the next card.

 _Okay, so I guess we're really doing this then_ , Luz thought.

_Still, it looks like she's just treating it like a fun little game – nothing to get too heated up about._

_That's good._

_I guess._

On her next correct answer Luz received a much longer and more lingering kiss on her lips instead. Luz felt her heart start to speed up in her chest, but when she tried to reach out and pull Amity in closer to her she was stopped by Amity's hands holding her firmly in place by the shoulders.

Amity pulled back and gave her a grin.

“You get one kiss per correct answer – it's no good for your motivation if you try to sneak in extras,” she said.

 _Okay, so its still a game then_ , Luz thought as she felt her pulse quicken.

_Maybe a little bit less silly than I'd thought at first, but still just a game._

_Cool. Cool._

_This is fine. I can handle it._

Luz ended up being so distracted after the kiss though that she missed the next two questions as a result.

Amity looked up at Luz over her hand of flashcards and gave a disappointed shake of her head.

“What happened Luz? You got that one right last time. It's like you don't even want me to give you a reward,” she said.

Luz's eyes narrowed.

_Oh, it is on!_

Luz's third correct answer resulted in a very prominent hickey since Amity decided that a kiss on the neck was still a kiss, and Luz was definitely not inclined to argue that point with her. Her fingernails dug painful crescents into her palms as she struggled to hold still and not reach for Amity again since that had cut the last kiss short. She wasn't sure what the rules were for the game that Amity was playing, but whatever they were she didn't want to lose.

She also, it had to be said, didn't want Amity to take her mouth off of her neck.

When Amity did pull away Luz realized that she made an almost identical whimper to the one that Amity had made earlier.

She shook her head quickly and sharpened her focus, determined to not miss a single question.

The next three correct answers however, to Luz's growing frustration, were each rewarded with a chaste peck on the cheek.

Amity only seemed to grow more amused with Luz's increasingly grumpy reactions.

“Is something the matter Luz?” Amity asked in an innocent voice, “This whole thing was your idea, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Luz grumbled.

Amity glanced down at the card in her hand.

“Oh, this is a really tricky one – I think you missed it last time,” she said.

“I'm pretty sure I'll get it this time,” Luz replied.

“Good – that's the kind of confidence you'll need for the final,” Amity said, “Do you think you'd feel more motivated if I promised you an extra-special reward for getting it right?”

A swarm of butterflies seemed to have somehow transported themselves into Luz's stomach as she considered the question.

“I think the answer to that would be a definite yes,” she said.

The question was a tricky one, and Luz was almost ready to give up when the answer appeared in her mind as if by magic.

“Limestone!” she exclaimed.

She was correct.

Some time later, after Luz felt thoroughly rewarded, she pulled Amity in close and planted a tired kiss on the back of her neck.

“I'm not complaining,” she said, “but this doesn't seem like the most efficient way to learn geology.”

Amity shifted against the cushions of the couch and then gave a contented sigh when she leaned back against Luz.

“You're probably right about that. You can't blame me though, it was your idea,” she agreed.

“I do feel a lot less stressed about the upcoming test at least,” Luz said.

“We should probably study separately in the future if we want to actually learn anything though,” Amity said with some reluctance.

“Probably, yeah,” Luz agreed with a disappointed sigh.

Amity shifted around to face Luz and smiled fondly at her.

“Cheer up, exams will be over soon – so when the winter break starts we can hang out all we want with no distractions getting in our way,” she said.

“I can't wait,” Luz said.

Luz felt a warm flutter in her heart when Amity shifted in closer and rested her head against her chest.

“I love you,” Luz murmured quietly, and then bent down to plant a kiss on the top of Amity's disheveled head.

Luz felt a wave of panic sweep through her as she felt Amity grow stiff in her arms.

_Wait, have I really never told her that I loved her before?_

_Oh crap, I don't think I have! I only think it a lot and just assumed that I had._

_Maybe I should have done it in a more romantic setting and not when we're both kind of sweaty and sprawled across a pile of geology flash cards on the worlds worst couch?_

“I love you too,” Amity whispered back, and the tension seemed to drain out of her body as she said it.

Luz felt as though she would melt into a puddle at hearing those words from Amity's lips.

The pair said nothing more for a time, content to lie together in the silence of their thoughts and the feel of each others warmth.

 _Okay, but when I get home I'm definitely going to need to study for real,_ Luz thought.

_Preferably in a way that won't accidentally end up giving me some kind of fetish for flash-cards or geology or whatever other weird thing might happen to my brain if we do this again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like writing Luz POV chapters a lot - and I really wanted to use this one to emphasize that their relationship isn't just one-sided in terms of being supportive. 
> 
> Hopefully the jumps between sections weren't too jarring.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading - all feedback is appreciated for anyone that feels like leaving some!


	8. Chapter 8

Amity's eyes shifted back and forth between the seemingly endless varieties of dried spaghetti crammed on the over-packed shelves of the grocery store.

_What kind am I supposed to get? Whole wheat? Gluten free? Thin? Thick? Regular? Is there a specific brand she likes? Is there one she hates?_

_What if I get the wrong kind and the whole meal is totally ruined?_

She glanced down at the ingredients list on her phone again, but it failed to provide any other helpful guidance beyond the word 'spaghetti'. Another minute passed with Amity locked in this internal debate before she began to grow annoyed with herself for her indecision.

 _I'm just picking a package of pasta here, not choosing which wire to snip to defuse a fucking bomb_ , she thought.

She grabbed a random pack of noodles off the shelf, tossed it into the basket of her cart and then wheeled away from the aisle before she had time to second-guess her choice.

It wasn't as though Amity had never been grocery shopping before. Even as rich as her family was, she still wasn't quite _that_ level of sheltered (but she did admittedly have a few acquaintances that came pretty close). When Amity shopped for herself though, she tended to just grab foods that were essentially foolproof to prepare - the kind of meal that could be made with a push of a microwave button or a splash of boiling water. The menu for tonight's celebratory dinner/cooking-lesson with Luz called for something a bit more intricate than cup noodles though, and Amity had traveled far outside of her normal comfort zone.

She double checked her basket against the ingredient list which Luz had sent her and realized that her ordeal was nearly over. She slid her fingers across the screen and opened up her texting app.

 **Me** : I've got all the stuff now - should be back at my apartment soon once I've paid for it.

 **Luz** : Great!

 **Me** : Are you going to need a ride?

 **Luz** : Nah, Eda is lending me the scooter tonight! I'll leave in a little bit and see you at your place soon.

Amity had a brief, but still nerve-wracking, flashback to the one time she had ridden with Luz on Eda's scooter. She had climbed onto the back of the seat and wrapped her arms around Luz's waist, expecting a gentle and romantic trip through the picturesque streets of Bonesborough.

Later, she had stepped off of the scooter with the feeling that her heart was milliseconds away from exploding and was almost surprised to find that her hair was still it's normal shade of brown when she had pulled her helmet off.

She had been sure that it would have turned stark white after Luz had taken that nightmarishly sharp turn just in time to avoid an oncoming eighteen-wheeler.

 **Me** : Well, you don't need to rush off just yet. Try to drive safe this time at least.

 **Luz** : I'm always safe.

Amity made a sound halfway between a choking gasp and a laugh at that shockingly inaccurate claim.

She was about to make a _very_ sharp reply to Luz's text when her phone began to ring with the call notification sound. Her eyebrows shot up when she realized that it was from her brother, and she decided to answer the phone more out of a feeling of curiosity than anything else.

"Since when do you make phone calls instead of just texting like a normal person? Did you suddenly turn into Mom or something?" Amity asked.

"What, I can't get nostalgic and start to miss the sound of my baby sister's voice?" he replied in his usual smarmy tone.

Amity made a grunt which expressed her disbelief quite eloquently as she steered her cart to the registers at the front of the store and then loaded her groceries onto the belt.

"Okay, so maybe there _is_ more of a reason behind this call than just that," Edric admitted.

"Care to just tell me what it is then? I'm a bit busy right now and don't have time for guessing games," she said.

"Geez, calm down Mittens - it's nothing bad," Edric said.

"Semi-bad at most," a feminine voice chimed in, which Amity instantly recognized as her sister Emira.

 _I guess I must be on speaker_ , Amity thought.

"We were just wondering if we would be able to drop by your place for a visit since we're all out of school now," Edric said.

"What, just to hang out?" Amity asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Emira said.

"It _has_ been a long while since we've had a chance to see you after all," Edric said.

Amity considered their request.

She hadn't always been on the best terms with her siblings, though she had to admit that she was still much closer to them than with her parents.

It had also been a long while since they'd spent any time together - at least long enough for the usual intense annoyance that Amity felt in their presence to be somewhat muted. The twins had already been off at college for two years before her own graduation and she had only seen them infrequently since then during the summer and winter breaks when they'd make short appearances at the manor.

Still, their last few interactions had been less aggravating than her memories of living with them or having them as fellow students in high school, and Amity would have been lying if she tried to claim that she didn't occasionally miss them.

_Maybe it would actually be kind of nice to catch up with Ed and Em._

"I guess a short visit would be fine," Amity said.

She realized that her voice sounded more grudging than she had intended, probably out of habit.

"Please, try and contain your enthusiasm sis," Edric chided her.

"Yes, we know how much you love us but it's kind of embarrassing if you gush like that," Emira added in a dry voice.

Amity handed the cashier her credit card and silently counted backwards from ten to bite back on her annoyance. Swearing loudly in a grocery store was generally frowned upon in polite society and the teenager stuck behind the register looked like they had enough problems of their own to deal with.

"When were you two planning to come and bother me?" Amity asked.

"Soon," they said simultaneously into the phone.

"Ugh, I have no idea how you guys do that," Amity said, "Do you two practice the whole creepy twin bit when no one is looking?"

"It's a real hit at parties, believe it or not," Edric said.

"I don't," Amity said, "But soon is fine - just make sure to call me before you guys drop in."

"Consider it done," Emira said.

"Be seeing you soon, Mittens," they said simultaneously before hanging up.

Amity looked at her phone and shook her head.

"I still can't believe that I'm somehow the normal one in this family," she said in a quiet voice.

A polite cough from off to the side drew Amity's attention back to the present and she saw that the cashier was handing her back her card and receipt. She gave the teen a quick, tight smile and then rushed off to the parking lot with her cart to try and get back to her apartment before Luz was due to arrive.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The grocery bags in Amity's arms weren't particularly heavy, but they had made opening the door to her apartment more of a hassle than usual.

She was still so distracted from having to juggle between her keys and the armful of packages that it took her a few seconds to realize that her apartment was not actually as empty as it had been when she had left it.

"Hiya Mittens!" Edric waved from one side of her overstuffed couch.

"Need a hand with the bags?" Emira asked from the opposite corner.

"What are you guys doing here? Also, how the hell did you get inside?" Amity demanded.

"A good magician never reveals his secrets," Edric said.

"We're not magicians though," Emira chimed in, "Mom gave us a copy of your apartment key a few days ago when we told her that we were going to be visiting you and we were already in town when Edric called you."

Amity let out an irritated sigh.

"The fact that Mom would do something like that is both deeply unsettling, but also not at all surprising," she said.

"Yeah, it's kinda fucked up," Edric agreed.

"We _did_ call before we came inside your place though," Emira pointed out.

"Yes, I guess you technically did," Amity said, "but when you said 'soon' I hadn't thought that you had meant tonight. I already had plans."

 _Plans which I should probably cancel now_ , Amity thought with annoyance.

"What plans? The semester is already done, there's nothing left for you to study right now," Emira said.

"It wasn't going to be studying tonight," Amity said through gritted teeth.

_Yeah, I definitely need to text Luz right away and tell her that our date is off. I'm not sure she would still be able to love me if she witnessed me committing a double fratricide._

Amity considered that thought.

_Well, it **is** Luz... for all I know she might volunteer to help me hide the bodies. She does always find ways to surprise me._

"Our little Mittens has non-studying related plans on a Friday night! College really has changed you hasn't it?" Edric said.

Amity paused as she struggled to choose between whether to set her groceries down before attacking her older brother or if it would be better to just smack him repeatedly about the face with the heavily laden plastic bags.

Unfortunately, before she could pick either option Amity heard the doorbell ring behind her.

She spun about to face the door, and then felt as though her heart had clawed its way up to her throat as she realized who must have been on the other side.

_Well, looks like it's too late for me to cancel now._

The doorbell rang a second time.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Emira asked.

Amity gave a groan, set her grocery bags down on the floor and then walked up to the door. Each step felt like she was being marched toward her own execution and time seemed to slow to a crawl as her mind raced ahead.

_What should I do? Do I try to pretend Luz is just a friend?_

_No, that would definitely hurt her feelings._

_Ugh, I can't imagine what these two idiots will do when they learn she's my girlfriend though._

_Oh god, what if they want to talk to her? What if they tell her what a little monster I was in high school?_

_I'm sure they've got all sorts of 'hilarious' stories about me that they'd love to share with her._

_Maybe I can find some way to signal to Luz that we should play it cool tonight?_

When Amity opened the door she found Luz standing on the threshold with a happy smile on her face and her hair sticking up all over her head in an oddly adorable way - most likely caused by the helmet which she currently had tucked under her arm.

Before Amity had a chance to figure out what to say about the changes to their evenings plans, Luz had leaned in and planted an extremely enthusiastic kiss on her lips.

 _So much for playing it cool_ , Amity thought.

It _was_ a very nice kiss though - and it had been far too long since she'd had a chance to see Luz.

Tonight was supposed to be their first real date since the exams had ended, and Amity had been looking forward to it with what felt like almost too much anticipation.

 _Screw it, what have I got to be embarrassed about? It's not like anyone in this room is straight anyway_ , she thought before she wrapped her arms around Luz's shoulders and kissed her back.

When Luz finally broke the kiss she smiled at Amity, but then quickly flushed a rather pretty shade of red once she realized that they had an audience watching them.

Amity swallowed the lump in her throat and waved a hand at the two blonde nuisances grinning at them from their seats on her couch.

"Luz, these are my siblings Edric and Emira, who have decided to oh-so-considerately drop in on me tonight with absolutely no warning," she said by way of introduction.

"Luz Noceda, pleasure to meet you," Luz said in a nervous voice, offering the twins a weak wave.

"Oh my god, Mittens finally got herself a girlfriend!" Edric said with a genuinely happy-looking smile on his face.

"A really cute one too - nice going sis!" Emira agreed with a thumbs-up of approval.

Luz turned to Amity with an unreadable expression on her face, and Amity felt her stomach begin to clench inside of her like a knotted fist.

_Well, this is already off to a great start._

"Mittens?" Luz asked.

"A childhood nickname," Emira explained.

"When our baby sis was very little she couldn't quite pronounce 'Amity' right," Edric said, “But she could somehow manage 'Mittens' and it was close enough for her.”

"Oh my god that is unbelievably adorable," Luz in a tone of rising excitement, "Can I call you that too?"

"Absolutely not!" Amity said, trying but utterly failing to keep the horror she felt at that thought from reaching her voice.

“Okay okay – sorry, I didn't know that was such a sore spot for you,” Luz said, raising her hands in a placating gesture.

“It's fine,” Amity said quickly, “It's just... well, you're an only child so you probably don't know how _weird_ it would feel if your girlfriend started calling you the same nickname that your pain-in-the-ass siblings do. Especially if it's not something that you're that fond of being called in the first place.”

“We _are_ still right here, you know,” Edric said.

“Right, being a pain in the ass – I rest my case,” Amity snipped back.

“Well we do seem to be crashing her date, so you can't say that she doesn't have a point,” Emira said.

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean she has to actually come right out and _say_ it,” Edric said.

“It would probably have been a bit more 'Blight' of me if I just let it fester for years as casual passive-aggression I guess,” Amity said.

“Oh, speaking of exactly that – Mom wanted us to tell you that you'll be coming home with us for Christmas,” Emira asked.

“Yeah, Dad's going to be throwing one of those horrible parties again and he wanted to show off his daughter, the one attending the _prestigious_ Hexside University that is, to his tycoon friends,” Edric said.

“How nice of Mom to let me know my own answer to their invitation in advance,” Amity grumbled.

“Hey, don't shoot the messenger Mittens – it's not like we had a ton of choice in the matter either,” Emira said.

“She probably would have told you herself before now, but she said that you hadn't been calling home much lately,” Edric chimed in.

Amity felt the briefest stab of guilt at that.

It was true that she had used to contact her parents more regularly, but with one thing and another she had fallen out of the habit.

The fact that the drop off in her calls home seemed to coincide with the decrease of Amity's overall stress levels was one which she tried not to examine too closely.

“I've just been very busy lately,” she mumbled quietly.

Edric's eyes darted to where Luz stood beside Amity, awkwardly shuffling her feet as the siblings barbed banter had been going on around her.

“Yeah, I'll bet you have,” he said with a ridiculously exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows at his younger sister.

Amity briefly indulged in the fantasy of being able to flash-fry her brother with laser beams from her eyes, but had to settle for staring daggers at him instead.

“So, Luz – right? How did you and Mittens meet?” Emira asked, smoothly stepping off the couch and placing herself between her brother and sister's line of sight.

Amity felt her stomach plunge to the center of the Earth when she remembered _exactly_ how she and Luz had met.

 _Oh god, Ed and Em will never let me live this down when they find out_ , she groaned internally.

“We shared a writing class together and ended up being critique partners a lot – Amity always wrote the most amazing stories, so I just had to get to know her better,” Luz said as she grabbed Amity's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Amity shot Luz look a grateful look and felt the lead weight in her gut disappear as she realized that she had been spared.

_What on Earth did I ever do to deserve an angel like this for a girlfriend?_

_Aside from falsely accuse her of plagiarism that is._

“I guess that's kind of romantic in a nerdy way,” Edric said.

“Well I think it's a very cute story,” Emira declared.

“So glad to hear that my love life meets with your approval,” Amity said in a dry voice.

“Interesting – she said 'love' right away without missing a beat,” Edric said to Emira.

“Yeah, this must be pretty serious,” Emira replied.

“Oh, without a doubt,” Edric agreed, “Do you think they'll want to have a June wedding?”

“I call dibs on planning Mittens bachelorette party,” Emira said.

“You just want an excuse to ogle some strippers and pretend it's family bonding,” Edric said.

“Ed, don't be gauche – I'd be ogling _exotic dancers_ and pretending it's for family bonding,” Emira said.

“I am NOT having strippers at my bachelorette party!” Amity shouted with a stamp of her foot.

“Oh, so you _were_ already planning that far ahead then, hmmm?” Edric asked with a tilt of his head and a devilish smile.

Amity was nowhere near a mirror, but she could tell just by the burning feeling in her ears that her face must have been a particularly fiery shade of red at that moment.

She turned to Luz and gave her a friendly smile, pointedly ignoring her siblings ongoing chatter.

“Luz, how would you feel about going out somewhere else tonight? My apartment currently seems to be infested with vermin,” she said in a sweet tone of voice.

“Ouch,” Edric said, clutching at his heart in a dramatic fashion.

“Seriously Mittens,” Emira said, “Words _do_ hurt, you know.”

“Not nearly enough,” Amity said under her breath.

“Well actually we should probably get out of your hair for tonight,” Edric said.

“Yeah,” Emira agreed, “We honestly would have never interrupted if we knew that you were going to be 'entertaining' this evening.”

Amity appreciated the sentiment, but still felt that her sisters use of air-quotes around the word entertaining was vaguely obscene somehow.

“Are you sure?” Luz asked, “I know that you all haven't seen each other in a long time and I'd feel kind of bad if I broke up a family reunion. If Amity is okay with you guys staying and hanging out with us tonight I wouldn't object.”

“Wow,” Edric said, “She's a real sweetheart isn't she?”

“Right?” Emira agreed, “She's voluntarily agreed to spend more time around Ed even after he opened his mouth – that's practically a qualifier for sainthood.”

The blonde twins turned toward Amity and gave her a pair of unbelievably innocent-seeming smiles.

“Well, it's up to you then Mittens,” Edric said.

“What do you say?” Emira asked.

Amity closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and then blew it out slowly as she counted backwards once more to steady herself. She shifted her gaze to her siblings, looked both of them in the eye and then gave them her warmest smile in return.

“I think there's a motel somewhere down the street that you two can stay at tonight – don't let my door hit you too hard on the way out,” she said in her brightest and most artificially cheerful voice.

The twins burst out laughing at that, their voices loud and completely sincere.

“Absolutely ruthless,” Edric said.

“That's our Mittens,” Emira agreed.

“We'll get out of your hair tonight then – want to get lunch with us tomorrow though?” Edric asked.

Amity nodded.

“Yeah, lunch sounds fine,” she said.

“Great – and this time we'll _actually_ call first,” Emira said.

As the twins got up to leave Amity held up a hand to stop them.

“I'd also like that copy of my apartment key if you don't mind,” she asked.

“No problem,” Edric said.

He fished it out of his pocket and deposited it into his sisters outstretched hand.

“We were planning on giving it back to you anyway once you got here,” Emira said.

“Yeah, it would be fun to have for pranks but the last thing we want is for you to not trust us,” Edric said.

“Well, any less than you already do that is,” Emira said.

Edric and Emira each stopped to ruffle Amity's hair in their usual irritating manner before they walked out the door and left Amity and Luz alone in the apartment.

Luz turned toward Amity and cocked her head in a silent question.

“Believe it or not, that was probably the best interaction that I've had with either of them in years,” Amity said.

Luz let out a horrified chuckle as she considered that statement.

“I can see what you meant when you had told me stories about them now... they seem like kind of a lot to deal with,” Luz said.

Amity scoffed.

“No, believe it or not they've gotten a lot better than they used to be,” she said.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Cooking, despite it's superficial resemblance to chemistry, proved to be both much messier but also more enjoyable than Amity had expected.

The recipe which Luz had decided would be Amity's introduction to the culinary arts was a pasta dish that had been a childhood favorite for her – her mother's Dominican-style spaghetti. Amity had never eaten a plate of spaghetti which included sliced peppers or cubes of salami before, but apparently it was all part of the traditional recipe and she was interested in trying out the new taste.

Luz was extremely patient in guiding Amity through the steps of the recipe, which she appreciated greatly. She still felt at times though, that Luz might have been using the opportunity to have just a little fun at her expense.

Particularly with this latest instruction.

“Okay, now I know that you're just making stuff up,” Amity said as she stirred the boiling noodles.

Luz shook her head.

“I'm totally serious – the best way to check if the noodles are ready is to get one of them out of the pot and throw it against the wall,” she declared, “If it sticks then they are done.”

“How is messing up my walls a good way to test the edibility of pasta?” Amity demanded.

“Because if the spaghetti sticks it means that the starches in the noodles have softened up enough to become sticky,” Luz said.

Amity cocked her head at Luz, looking for any indication that she was messing with her. Luz gave her an even, steady gaze in return with honesty radiating out from her eyes.

“Fine,” Amity declared, “It's not like I'd know if you were just making it up anyway since I've never cooked this stuff before.”

To Amity's surprise the noodle she fished out of the pot with a fork did stick to the wall after she had flung it there. She turned and saw that Luz was giving her a slightly smug smile.

“Okay, what other weird things am I going to need to do for this? Do I have to juggle the peppers to see which one is the ripest or something?” Amity asked.

“Juggling is only good for eggs,” Luz said, “For peppers you need to stack them on top of each other. The higher the stack you can make the riper the peppers.”

“I _know_ you're just fucking with me right now, but the fact that you came up with that off the top of your head is still a little unsettling,” Amity replied.

Luz shrugged.

“Speak with enough conviction and you can make anything sound believable if you try,” she said.

“Another of Eda's life lessons?” Amity asked.

“Yeah,” Luz said, “Being persuasive is pretty necessary in a business like hers – otherwise how would you be able to convince someone that what they really need in their life is a creepy old statue or an 'ancient cursed dagger' with 'Made in China' stamped right on the blade?”

Amity had to agree that Luz had a point there.

Luckily for Amity, Luz didn't try to persuade her of anything other than in believing that she possessed a latent talent for cooking. In fact, Luz proved to be an excellent teacher overall and before long the pair were seated at Amity's table and enjoying the first homemade meal ever eaten in the apartment.

The flavor of the dish was quite unlike anything that Amity had tasted before, but she knew that she definitely liked it – and so did Luz judging by how eagerly she dug into her own plate.

“This came out really good!” Luz had declared between mouthfuls.

Amity felt her face flush with pleasure at the compliment.

“You did most of the actual work,” she said, “I was just a pair of hands carrying out your instructions.”

“Don't sell yourself short,” Luz said in a stern voice, “You did a spectacular job for your first real attempt at cooking a meal – it's practically the same as one that I'd eat at home.”

Amity hid a small smile behind her hand. She did appreciate Luz trying to help bolster her self-esteem, but her girlfriend's attempt at a serious face was made somewhat less dignified by the tiny blobs of sauce dotting the corners of her lips.

“Well, I'm open to learning more recipes if you want to keep teaching me,” Amity said, “Once I started to get the hang of it this was actually kind of fun.”

“I'd be more than happy to teach you,” Luz replied, “Or maybe we could try out some new ones together so that we'd both be learning? That could be really interesting!”

Amity smiled as she imagined herself and Luz spending the weeks of their winter break together in her apartment, experimenting with new dishes and enjoying each others company. Her face fell though when she remembered the news which Ed and Em had delivered to her earlier – her parents had their own plans for her free time and unfortunately getting cozy over the winter break with Luz wasn't part of them.

Amity felt a warm pressure on her fingers, startling her out of her moody daydream. She glanced down and saw Luz's warm brown hand laid over hers.

“Something wrong?” Luz asked.

“I guess I'm just feeling kind of down that I'm going to have to spend who knows how long stuck back at the manor,” Amity said, “I'd been wanting to spend most of our vacation together.”

Luz's face scrunched up into a small frown at that.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I was going to be heading down to see my Mom over the break too, so we were going to have to split up for a while anyway though,” Luz said.

“True,” Amity said with a sigh, “I know you've been wanting to see her again a lot.”

Luz nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Maybe it's not very adult-y of me but I just really miss her like crazy. I know that Willow and Gus will probably be home visiting their families too and I'd hate to lose the chance to see them,” Luz said.

Amity felt a shameful spike of jealousy surge up in her chest as she imagined what it would be like to _want_ to go home again.

For Amity, the time she had spent at her apartment in Bonesborough and her complete separation from all the reminders of her old life had felt like a taste of freedom... a fresh start. Of course all it had taken was one visit from her siblings to remind Amity that her new life had come with strings attached, and that those strings were all still being pulled by her parents to make her dance to their tune.

 _None of that is Luz's fault though_ , Amity reminded herself firmly.

“I hope you have a great time when you're back in your hometown,” she said instead, and she meant every word.

“I'm sure I will,” Luz said, “But I'll still be missing you while I'm there.”

“Well, the winter break is pretty long,” Amity said, “We'll still have plenty of time to get to see each other before and after our trips home.”

Amity wasn't really sure if she had made that statement more to reassure Luz or herself, but she was glad to see that Luz seemed to brighten up after hearing it.

“Actually, since we're both going to be out of town during the holiday I should probably give you your presents now,” Amity said.

“What?” Luz objected, “That's no fair – I didn't bring any gifts for you with me!”

Amity shot a triumphant smile at Luz.

“Fair or not, you're still getting your presents tonight,” Amity declared, “You can give me mine whenever you have time.”

Luz fidgeted in her seat a bit at the thought of not being able to return the gesture immediately, but nodded her agreement.

The two packages which Amity had retrieved from her bedroom were each fairly small in size and not particularly fragile-feeling, but Luz still handled each of them with extreme care.

“Want to open them now?” Amity asked.

“But it's still weeks away from Christmas!” Luz said in a surprisingly scandalized voice.

“Yeah, but I won't be able to see your face when you open them if we have to wait till then – you'll be in another state,” Amity pointed out.

“I guess you're right,” Luz said as she glanced down at the packages in her lap with unmistakable curiosity.

“Go on, just open them up already,” Amity insisted.

Luz blew out a deep breath.

“Santa, forgive me,” she muttered quietly as she tore into the packaging.

The first present proved to be a sort of knitted beanie with pointed cat ears and enormous googly eyes attached to the top. Amity had thought it was one of the most hideous things which she had ever seen when she'd spotted it at the store last week, but something about that hat had drawn her to it like a moth to flame.

When she saw that Luz was gazing at the hat in rapturous delight she knew that she had made the right decision. Luz wasted no time in cramming the beanie onto her head and whipping around toward Amity with a grin on her face. The movement had been so fast that the googly eyes staring out from the top of the hat were still rattling around above Luz's own shining brown gaze.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Exquisitely ridiculous,” Amity answered with a warm smile.

“It's perfect then,” Luz declared.

Amity felt her hands grow clammy as Luz opened up the second package to reveal a small stack of perfectly normal white paper covered in print and stapled at the corner like any other writing assignment which she had turned in over the semester.

Luz's eyes scanned the title and the first few lines and then she turned her attention to Amity.

“What's this?” she asked.

Amity gave a nervous little laugh.

“Um... this one's kind of a gag gift I guess,” she said, “It's... um... Well, you remember how we met, right?”

Luz rolled her eyes in a playful way.

“I do – honestly, I don't think I'm ever going to forget that,” she said.

“Well, when we were talking that day – after all the plagiarism accusation stuff was done I mean – you'd told me that you thought I should write a fic, and I'd said that if I did I wouldn't post it anywhere,” Amity continued, “I'd write one that only you could read.”

Luz glanced down at the story in her hands again and Amity could see a red flush spreading across her face.

“You really wrote me my very own fanfic after all?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Amity said, “I kind of worked on it off-and-on between assignments... and I finished it just before the finals were done... so... yeah.”

There was a beat of silence that seemed to stretch on for infinity to Amity's panicking brain.

 _Oh this was a huge mistake_ , Amity thought.

_This is hands down the dorkiest thing I've ever done in my entire life. It's possibly the dorkiest thing that any human being has ever done in the history of the world!_

_Luz can't even look me in the eye right now._

Amity was about to stammer out another excuse about the present just being a little in-joke between them, but before the words could leave her mouth Luz had rushed over and nearly tackled her into a tight hug.

“Oh my god, I have the BEST girlfriend in the whole fucking world!” Luz declared with a whoop.

Relief mixed with warmth flooded through Amity, and she wrapped her own arms around Luz to return the hug.

“So, I guess you really like it then?” Amity asked quietly.

“I love it! I want to read it right now,” Luz said in an excited voice.

“Oh, no no no no – definitely not!” Amity declared.

“Awww – why can't I?” Luz whined.

“Because it is nerve-wracking to sit around while someone else reads your writing and I just want to relax with you tonight,” Amity said.

Luz laughed lightly at that, and nodded her agreement.

“That's true – critique time was always super stressful for me also,” Luz said, “But I am reading it the second I get home though.”

“Fine by me – just tell me what you thought afterwards,” Amity said.

“Of course!” Luz said.

Amity watched as Luz's eyes darted down to the story again, scanning back over the first few lines before glancing up guiltily at Amity once more. She gave her a sheepish smile and tucked the sheets of paper into her jacket for safekeeping.

“Ugh,” Luz groaned, “Now I feel double-bad for not having anything to give you right now after you go and do something that sweet for me.”

Amity could see that Luz actually did look somewhat distressed and she racked her brain for some way to cheer her back up.

Without really thinking about it much at all she grabbed the ribbon from the discarded packaging to Luz's hat and then reached out and stuck it onto Luz's chest right over her heart.

“Spending time with me today can be your present then,” Amity declared.

Luz glanced down at the ribbon stuck to her sweater and snorted.

“Now who's the one being cheesy?” she asked Amity.

“You know you love it,” Amity replied in a pretty good impersonation of Luz's voice and gestures.

Luz laughed and pulled Amity in for another hug.

“Yeah, I really do,” she said.

Amity felt a warm calm settle over her as she snuggled in closer to Luz, feeling the earlier stress of the evening's unexpected surprises melt away.

 _I guess Luz really has been rubbing off on me if I'm able to do such incredibly goofy things without second-guessing myself into oblivion_ , she thought.

_Though I wouldn't say that's a bad thing at all._

  
  


* * *

  
  


Amity was, despite all of her expectations to the contrary, actually having a great time.

Edric and Emira had decided that for their planned lunch they would be dining at a small locally owned restaurant that had really good online reviews. Amity had never eaten there before now, but after tasting the food she could see that they had earned every one of those high ratings.

As they ate, the twins caught Amity up on what they had been up to during their first semester as juniors at Glandus University – the traditional rival of Hexside in sports and other achievements.

Amity had always been halfway convinced that they'd chosen that school specifically to annoy their parents, but Ed and Em had always been able to get away with pretty much anything.

“I was thinking of switching my major over to Theater,” Edric mentioned.

Amity shook her head in amazement.

“You want to change majors when you're already in your third year of school? Is that even allowed?” she asked.

“Hopefully it is - I've been getting really into acting lately,” Edric said with a shrug.

“More like you've been getting into actors,” Emira said with a smirk, “Didn't you date both leads in that play they did this year – _The Lion in Winter_ or something like that?”

“What, at the same time?” Amity asked.

“Yup,” Emira confirmed.

“In my defense,” Edric spoke up, “I hadn't exactly planned on it turning out that way. Things just sort of snowballed.”

“Right into you getting double-dumped in the quad by both of them,” Emira said with a laugh, “It was like something out of a terrible sitcom.”

“Sometimes I really do feel like there's a cosmic laugh-track out there somewhere just waiting for me to set it off,” Edric said with a shrug.

Amity was about to make a joke of her own, but her bag began to chime with the sound of text notifications.

A lot of them.

Amity glanced down at the bag and then up at her siblings with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry,” she said, “I guess I forgot to put it on silent.”

Emira rolled her eyes.

“Just answer it – you aren't in class right now for gods sake,” she said.

Amity gave a grateful nod and then pulled out her phone.

 **Luz** : Oh my god Amity

 **Luz** : This story

 **Luz** : I laughed, I cried, I started jumping up and down in excitement so much that Eda yelled at me to keep it down

 **Luz** : How are you this good at writing?

 **Luz** : I can't decide if I should get my favorite line tattooed on me or not.

 **Luz** : I should, right?

 **Luz** : I think I saw a tattoo gun somewhere in the shop downstairs that probably isn't too rusty...

 **Me** : Luz you are not allowed, under any circumstances, to tattoo yourself with lines from my fanfiction!

 **Luz** : But I love it so much!

 **Me** : I forbid it as the creator.

 **Luz** : Fiiiine

 **Luz** : I still love it though

 **Me** : I'm really glad that you do.

 **Me** : I'm still eating with Ed & Em right now. Can I text you later?

 **Luz** : Of course! Have fun with your siblings, and sorry for interrupting.

 **Me** : No problem.

 **Me** : Love you

 **Luz** : Love you too!

Amity set the phone to silent, slipped it back into her bag and then glanced back up at her siblings to offer them an apology for the interruption.

Both Edric and Emira were leaning across the table with their chins propped up on their fists and giving her identical grins.

“What's your problem?” Amity asked.

“Amity,” Edric said, “You are glowing!”

“Seriously,” Emira agreed, “I don't think I've ever seen you this happy since you were just a little kid.”

Amity was so shocked by her brother's use of her actual name for the first time in as long as she could remember that it took her a second before she actually processed what they had said.

A blush spread across her face but she nodded in agreement.

“I can't actually remember _being_ this happy since I was just a kid,” she admitted.

“College is really agreeing with you – I knew getting out of that house was a good idea,” Emira said.

“I don't think it was college that was sending her lovey-dovey texts right now sis,” Edric said.

 _How can my brother be such an idiot but still so perceptive at the same time?,_ Amity wondered to herself.

“Luz has definitely been a big part of why I've been doing so well, yeah,” Amity said.

“Well she looks great – and since she's obviously been making you so happy then she has my blessing to keep on dating you,” Emira said.

“Since when do I need your blessing for anything?” Amity asked.

“You don't of course, but it can't hurt,” Emira said.

Edric's face grew serious and he turned to Emira.

“We should tell her,” he said.

Emira nodded her agreement.

“Tell me what?” Amity asked.

“Okay, don't freak out,” Emira said, “But we think that somehow Mom might suspect that you're not currently single at the moment.”

Amity felt a chill, as though her spinal column had been replaced by an enormous icicle.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“When we went to the manor and they gave us the key to your place she was dropping a few hints about wanting us to see if you were currently involved in any 'unfortunate entanglements' while you were 'unsupervised',” Edric said, throwing in the air-quotes.

“You know, pretty much asking us to spy on you in that cryptic not-as-subtle-as-she-thinks way she likes to use sometimes,” Emira said.

“Obviously, we aren't going to rat on you,” Edric said quickly, “But keep it in mind when you come over to the manor for Christmas.”

“Yeah, be ready for that mind-game shit that they like to pull,” Emira said.

Amity could feel the beginnings of a panic attack starting to bubble up from her chest. Her breaths were coming in so sharp and shallow that they were nearly painful and her heart was racing out of control.

 _Oh god, not again_ , she thought.

The memory came back, needle sharp, of her parents looming over her when she was just a child.

So small. Helpless.

Not strong enough to stop them from forcing her to hurt her best friend on what should have been a happy day.

That same stress she felt every birthday since.

 _I'm not a child now though_ , Amity reminded herself.

_I'm not small. I'm not helpless. I'm not weak._

She steadied her breathing using the exercises that Dr. Clawthorne had taught her, allowing the regular rhythm of it to pull the panic from her body.

Amity realized that she must have closed her eyes at some point because she was startled when she looked down and saw that Ed and Em had reached out and taken her hands.

“You okay sis?” Edric asked.

Amity swallowed with a dry mouth and gave a short, sharp nod.

“Yeah, I'm just calming myself down a bit,” she said.

“You aren't going to be alone there with them,” Emira said.

“We're going to have your back this time if they try to mess with you,” Edric said.

Amity looked back and forth between the faces of her siblings and was startled. Something was different here – as though she was seeing them for the first time.

“I'd appreciate the help,” Amity said.

“We weren't always the best siblings to you when we were younger,” Emira said.

“We were total crap at it,” Edric said, “But we talked about it last night and we would like to be better ones now... if you'll let us.”

A small smile tugged up at the corner of Amity's mouth.

“I wasn't always the best person myself either,” Amity said, “So I can understand what it's like to want a second chance.”

There was a moment of peace before the Blight siblings released each others hands and turned embarrassed eyes back to their food.

The panic which had threatened to overwhelm Amity earlier had faded away, though she wasn't completely devoid of nervousness either.

 _Maybe my parents don't really know anything about Luz yet_ , she told herself.

_And even if they do I'll be ready for them this time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this was worth the wait for anyone that had been wanting a new chapter of this fic!
> 
> As always feedback is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some.


	9. Chapter 9

The flight from Bonesborough to Luz's hometown was a long stretch of boredom which had been punctuated by a brief period of bone-chilling terror when the plane passed through the turbulence of a winter storm.

Luz, not for the first time in her life, had found herself wishing for magical powers that might have allowed her to control the weather and calm the storm as the shrieking wind had jerked and jolted her about in her seat. The ability to fly on her own without the need of an airplane would have been nice at the very least, even if the traditional witch's broomstick didn't look like the most comfortable way to travel over interstate distances.

After the storm passed and the adrenaline which flooded her system had drained away Luz had fallen into an exhausted stupor. She was left feeling sluggish for the remainder of the flight right up to the moment that the plane made its touchdown onto the runway.

Luz had been in such a drained state that she couldn't even recall how she had suddenly found herself squinting at the harsh sunlight by the departure terminal with her duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

_Did I come to the right spot? I hope she didn't get stuck in traffic on the way..._

“Nice hat,” a familiar voice called out from nearby.

The sluggish feeling which had been pressing down on Luz's brain like a lead blanket instantly dissolved as she whipped her head around and spotted Willow standing beside a small red car with a grin on her face.

“Damn right it's a nice hat,” Luz replied with a grin of her own.

She gave her head a slight shake to make the beanies giant googly eyes rattle around once more for good measure.

“Are you just going to stand there looking ridiculous all day or what?” Willow asked, spreading her arms out wide in open invitation.

Luz quickly closed the distance between herself and her oldest friend, flung her arms around Willow's torso and squeezed her tight. She gave a sharp _oof_ as Willow knocked the wind right out of her by returning the hug with her significantly stronger arms.

“I forgot how serious your hugs could get,” Luz gasped out once she managed to draw in a lungful of air again.

“Well, that just means I need to start hugging harder so that you don't forget next time,” Willow replied.

“Try and leave a few of my bones unbroken if you can. I've grown attached to them over the years,” Luz said.

“No promises,” Willow said lightly.

The pair separated and Willow hit the button on her key to open the trunk so that Luz could stow her duffel bag away.

“Thanks a lot for coming to pick me up,” Luz said as she slid into the passenger seat and buckled herself in.

Asking Willow for a ride from the airport had ended up being a last minute adjustment to Luz's original plan, but her friend had taken it in stride.

“Hey, it's no problem,” Willow said, “Gus wanted to come along too but he got stuck at home doing a tech support type thing for his dad.”

“What happened?” Luz asked.

Willow giggled.

“Well, Mr. Porter was trying to set up one of those big showy Christmas displays in their yard but an animatronic Santa kind of went haywire and smashed a window before he was able to shut it down,” she said.

Luz covered her mouth but failed to fully stifle a chuckle of her own.

“I hope Gus can get it all sorted out before too long,” she said.

“Knowing Gus he'll have probably fixed it by now and also found some way to make it even more garish in the process,” Willow said.

Luz found her eyes drawn to the scenery outside the car's windows as Willow exited the airport and made her way into the town proper. Sights that had been familiar to Luz almost all of her life now felt strange after her long absence. The orderly grid layout of the buildings and the general modern look of the town was nothing like the winding streets and busy urban clutter of Bonesborough.

“It feels weird being back again,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, it really does,” Willow agreed, “I've been here for a couple of days already and I still haven't totally adjusted yet.”

Luz and Willow fell back into the easy rhythm of conversation which they had shared for so long as the ride continued, catching each other up on all the details of their lives they hadn't mentioned before in their frequent texts.

The old friends chat looped and meandered through a number of topics that ate up the minutes and miles of the drive, and it felt like almost no time at all had passed before the car had pulled into Luz's neighborhood.

 _There it is_ , Luz thought as she spotted the small white wooden house where she had grown up.

It looked like it hadn't changed a bit since Luz had last seen it, but even so it still felt different somehow.

 _Or maybe it's just that I've changed instead_ , Luz wondered.

Willow pulled up to the front beside the winding stone walkway and turned to Luz.

“You've got your keys, right?” she asked.

Luz dug around in her pockets and pulled out her keyring, then held up the well worn house-key which she hadn't used in months.

“Yup, right here,” she confirmed.

“Cool, I'd hate to drive you all this way and then just dump you outside if you couldn't get in,” Willow said.

She hit the button on the dashboard to open the trunk, and the two stepped out of the car so that Luz could retrieve her duffel bag.

“Would you maybe want to hang out here for a bit?” Luz asked as she slung her bag back over her shoulder, “I think my mom's shift at the hospital won't be over until sometime in the evening.”

Willow gave an apologetic shake of her head.

“Sorry – my dads had planned to take me out for some kind of fancy dinner thing pretty soon. I swear, they've been celebrating practically every night since I came back,” Willow said.

“Ah okay – well, I hope you have fun. Say hi to your dads for me,” Luz said.

“Would you want to come join us since you're on your own right now? After you put your stuff away I mean,” Willow asked.

This time it was Luz who shook her head.

“Nah, you go have fun – I want to be here when my mom gets back home,” she replied.

The two hugged once more, but thankfully for Luz's ribcage it was much gentler than their first greeting had been. As Willow drove off down the tree-lined streets Luz stood under the eaves of her porch and waved until her friend's car was out of sight.

With a sudden start Luz realized that she hadn't turned her phone on again since she had been asked to turn it off for the duration of the flight. She rummaged around through the pockets of her jacket and saw that she had no missed calls or messages in the time that she'd left it off.

 _I should probably let Mom know I'm home already though_ , she thought.

 **Me** : Made it home safe. Do you know when you'll be out?

There wasn't an instant reply, which Luz had expected since her mother was often kept extremely busy at her nursing job. She turned back to face the empty house, drew in a deep breath and then entered.

Luz's old bedroom, unsurprisingly, was exactly as she had left it – which meant that it still looked like a small tornado had gone through it during her haste to finish up her last minute packing for college.

The walls were cold and bare aside from a few faded posters, and she found herself missing the familiar look of the paintings which she had brought with her to Eda's.

Luz spotted her old bookshelf and the many well-worn paperbacks which she hadn't considered vital enough to bring with her. She reached out and grabbed one at random and then flung herself back onto her old twin-bed mattress.

_Might as well read something to pass the time till mom gets home._

Luz was only a few pages into the book, and beginning to remember why she had left this particular novel behind, when she heard the chiming alert of her phone. She opened up her texts and spotted a reply from her mother.

 **Mama** : My shift should be done by 7:00. I'll pick us up some food so don't spoil your appetite with snacks before I get back.

 **Me** : So what you're saying is that there are snacks somewhere in the house?

 **Mama** : Yes there are but you aren't finding out where, and no that is not intended as a challenge.

 **Me** : Yes, Mami.

 **Mama** : Love you Mija

 **Me** : Love you too

Luz smiled and tried to get back into the book to eat up the time until her mom got free, but found that she had no patience for it now. She also remembered that this one had a disappointing ending as well and that the two characters that _clearly_ had the most romantic chemistry between them each had super boring side-characters foisted off on them as love interests in the sequel.

Luz had tried to fix the authors mistake a few times during high school by writing several fics about the objectively superior pairing, but that had just left her feeling more disappointed with the canon outcome than ever before. She tossed the novel aside and then continued looking around the room for something else to do with her time.

Inspiration came to Luz when she found a small pile of yearbooks in a cardboard box beside her bed. She flipped through her freshman yearbook, muttering under her breath until she finally found what she was looking for.

Luz grabbed her phone to snap a picture of the page and then pulled up her messenger to send the file over to Amity.

Her girlfriend's reply was near instantaneous.

 **calAMITY** : What on earth is happening there?

 **Me** : That, my dear Amity, was what you missed out on by not going to my first big freshman dance with me in high school.

 **calAMITY** : Leaving aside the fact that I couldn't have possibly done that since we went to completely different schools, I'm still having a hard time believing that your mom let you leave the house like that.

 **Me** : She was working late that night, but I'd like to think that she wouldn't have objected too much.

 **Me** : Eda had sent me a thumbs up when I'd texted her a selfie for her opinion before I took off, so that felt good enough.

 **calAMITY** : I think my mom's head would explode if she saw me wearing a tuxedo/tutu combo at a public event.

 **calAMITY** : Or I'd get disowned. Maybe both, in that order.

Considering what Amity had told her of her mother, Luz felt that she probably wasn't exaggerating much for effect as Luz would have hoped she was.

 **Me** : Does it really look that bad? I thought I had pulled it off pretty well.

 **calAMITY** : Well yeah, you looked adorable.

 **calAMITY** : Totally ridiculous, but still adorable.

 **Me** : Thank you

 **Me** : How has your day been?

There was a pause of around a minute or so before Amity replied.

 **calAMITY** : Well, Ed and Em were off doing something so I ended up spending most of it with my old high school “friends”.

 **calAMITY** : Which was a great reminder of why I never talk to them anymore.

 **Me** : That bad, huh?

 **calAMITY** : Probably worse than you imagine.

 **calAMITY** : Well okay, Skara's not too bad really but I'm pretty sure Boscha is currently majoring in advanced jackassery.

Luz gave a small snort of laughter and then her eyes narrowed as she re-read that last text.

 **Me** : Wait, you know someone named Boscha?

 **calAMITY** : Yes, to my eternal regret.

 **calAMITY** : Why?

Luz shook her head at the strangeness of the situation. It was far too much of a coincidence to be true of course.

Right?

 **Me** : It's probably nothing. It really is a small world though, right?

 **calAMITY** : I guess?

Luz was about to probe deeper into the new mystery which had presented itself but she heard the sound of a car pulling up outside through her window and all other thoughts flew out of her mind.

 **Me** : I think my mom just got back, so I'm going to go now.

 **Me** : Hope the rest of your day goes well!

 **calAMITY** : Stranger things have happened I suppose.

 **calAMITY** : Hope you have a good time seeing your mom again too.

Luz's phone disappeared into her pocket in a flash and she rushed out of her room just in time to hear the scrape of a key in the front door's lock. When the door swung open Luz felt a rush of warmth rising up through her chest at the sight of her mother, clutching a large paper bag from their favorite burger restaurant.

“Hi Mami,” Luz said with a hitch in her voice.

Camila Noceda rushed over to her daughter and grabbed her up in a tight hug. Luz was so overwhelmed with happiness that she didn't even care that the scalding heat from the freshly cooked burgers was radiating out from the paper bag pressing up tightly against her back.

“I've missed you so much Mija,” Camila said.

“I've missed you too,” Luz replied, with her eyes feeling heavy and hot in her face.

Camila pulled back and looked her daughter up and down from up close with a critical expression.

“You've gotten so skinny – what has Eda been feeding you?” Camila asked.

“Normal things,” Luz replied, darting her eyes to the side to avoid her mothers sharp gaze.

“Hah! Well whatever you've been eating I'll bet you've been sad that you couldn't get any of these over in Bonesborough, right?” Camila asked as she shook the bag.

Luz hadn't eaten anything at all since her very rushed lunch of a granola bar on the way to the airport and her stomach answered for her with a very eloquent growl.

Camila laughed and took her daughter by the arm to guide her to the dinner table.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz would have liked to pretend that she was so quiet during dinner with her mother because it was rude to talk with a full mouth, but the truth was that she couldn't stop herself from tearing through the burger with all the elegance and restraint of a starving tiger in a butcher shop.

Bonesborough was a wonderful town, and Luz had grown to appreciate its beautiful library and many other quaint local attractions but it didn't have anything that could quite compare to a good chimichurri burger. Especially when Luz hadn't tasted one in months.

“Slow down! You actually need to chew the food, you know?” Camila chided her daughter.

Luz blinked several times, looked down at the burger clutched in her hands and then noticed that she only had a few bites worth left while her mother wasn't even half way through her own.

Luz swallowed her mouthful of food and then gave her mother a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, I was just really hungry I guess,” she said.

“I can tell, but you should still take time to enjoy the meal,” Camila said with a fond shake of her head, “You were always in such a hurry even when you were a little girl.”

Luz made sure to take an extra-dainty bite of the burger next time and her mom replied with an overly serious nod of approval which set them both to giggling.

“How have you been doing Mami?” Luz asked.

“Things have been good here,” Camila replied, “Though it took me a long time to get used to how quiet the house is now.”

“I guess it would be a lot more peaceful without me running around everywhere,” Luz said.

“Peaceful, yes,” Camila agreed, “But a little boring too. I missed hearing you laughing or singing along to the songs from your any-mays.”

Luz had to resist the automatic urge to correct her mom's pronunciation of _anime_ since she was about ninety-percent sure that she only said it that way to tease her at this point, so she decided to change the subject instead.

“Oh, before I forget – Eda sends her love and wants to let you know that she sent some presents for the both of us along with me,” Luz said.

“That was nice of her,” Camila said with a smile.

The older woman's face scrunched up in thought as an idea occurred to her.

“These presents... she didn't ask you to sneak them in past airport security or anything, right?” Camila asked.

Luz shook her head.

“Nope, I'm pretty sure it's just regular gifts this time – I packed them along in my overhead bag and everything without a fuss,” Luz said.

“Oh, that's good,” Camila said, her smile brightening once again.

“She did say that we shouldn't open them until Christmas day on pain of some kind of curse or another, but I'm pretty sure she was just messing with me,” Luz said.

Camila nodded in agreement since that did seem exactly like something Eda would do.

“I hope you'll like the gift I got for you too. I wanted to get you something very nice this year since you had such fantastic grades in your first semester,” Camila said.

Luz squirmed in her seat from the praise.

“It's nothing that special – I just took a lot of easy classes for my basic requirements this time around,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Hey – no false modesty,” Camila commanded, “You did very good and I'm allowed to be proud of my genius daughter so that's final.”

Luz decided to escape from her mixture of pride and embarrassment by cramming what was left of her burger in her mouth and concentrating on the flavor of it instead.

 _I forgot how good these were_ , Luz thought as she savored the sandwich.

_Maybe I should ask Amity if she might want to make some with me later?_

Luz felt a sudden stab of nervousness as she remembered that, what with one thing and another, she had never actually gotten around to telling her mom that she was currently in a relationship.

It wasn't as if Luz was trying to hide it from her of course... she had just never been in this situation before and she wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to proceed.

“So what else has been new for you mija? Have you made any new friends in school?” Camila asked.

 _Well, that's convenient,_ Luz thought.

“I've been pretty busy concentrating on my school work mostly,” Luz said, “But I did manage to make one friend.”

“Oh, that's good!” Camila said.

“And now we're dating,” Luz added quickly.

“Oh?” Camila said with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“Yes... for a few months now,” Luz said.

“You've been seeing someone for a few months already and you haven't told me until now? What's their name? What are they like?” Camila asked.

Luz breathed an internal sigh of relief that her mother hadn't automatically defaulted to thinking of her partner in 'his' and 'he' terms when she mentioned her relationship.

Not that her mother had ever been anything but loving and supportive of her after she had come out... but old insecurities died hard.

“Her name is Amity – we met in my creative writing class,” Luz said.

“Is she a nice girl?” Camila asked.

“She's the absolute best,” Luz said, “She's kind of reserved and even a little prickly at first, but once you get to know her she is just the sweetest person on Earth.”

Camila smiled as she saw the way that Luz's eyes lit up as she described her girlfriend.

“She sounds like she's made you very happy,” Camila said.

“She has - it's been really great,” Luz confirmed.

Camila brought her hands together in a sharp clap.

“Then you'll need to bring her down to visit soon – you have Spring Break coming up next semester, right?” Camila said.

“Wait, what?” Luz asked at the sudden turn in the conversation.

“You said that you two have already been seeing each other for months – is it that strange to ask her to come visit your family?” Camila asked.

“Maybe?” Luz asked, “I'm still really new at this whole having-slash-being a girlfriend thing and don't know all the rules yet.”

“Well, I'm eager to meet the young woman that's stolen my little girl's heart as soon as possible,” Camila said.

_How **would** Amity feel if I asked her to visit here?_

_Would she get weirded out or scared off if I did? I don't want to push her too much outside of her comfort zone._

_Would she think that I was thinking too long term? Am I thinking too long term? What if she just wants to have fun and enjoy the now and she thinks I'm super clingy?_

Luz quickly shook her head to knock the stream of catastrophizing thoughts off-course.

_Okay, I was getting a little ridiculous there. If Amity was fine with meeting Eda while she was doing her whole overprotective-not-quite-a-parent schtick then my Mom should be a piece of cake by comparison._

_Plus, if letting Amity know that I'm serious about us and that I want her in my future is sappy, then I guess I'm just a big bucket of syrup._

“Luz, are you okay?” Camila asked, waving a hand in front of her daughter's thousand-yard stare.

“Gah!” Luz jumped, “I mean – yes, I'm fine.”

“So, will you be asking Amity if she'd like to come visit next time?” Camila asked.

“Yeah, I can ask her later after I get back to Bonesborough – Spring Break won't be for a long time anyway, so there's no need to rush things,” Luz said.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The turn was coming up fast and Luz wasn't sure she could make it before disaster struck.

A bead of sweat trickled down her brow as she leaned hard to the left, feeling the shaking in her hands as she barely managed to avoid clipping against the guard rail. A fierce grin split her face when she saw her destination coming up ahead.

_I can still do this!_

Sadly for Luz, the oncoming blue shell was immune to wishful thinking and she let out a frustrated curse as she was stopped seconds away from the finish line when it smashed into her cart.

Willow, Gus and three of Luz's computer opponents all shot past her to complete the final lap before she was able to limp along to a disappointing 6th place.

"Ugh," Luz groaned, "I hate that fucking thing so much!"

"Do you?" Gus asked with a smug grin, "Because I recall you were arguing pretty hard about how important it was for the game balance and to introduce an element of chaos when you used it on me last round."

Luz couldn't find a good answer for that, so she settled for sticking her tongue out at him instead.

"Not sure why you guys are arguing so hard about it - I'm still beating the both of you on points," Willow said.

"Would you rather that we were working together to try and take you down instead?" Luz asked.

"Sure, it might be kind of funny if you tried," Willow shot back with a toothy smile.

Gus raised a calming hand between his friends. Willow took winning very seriously despite her outwardly placid manner, and Luz never backed down from a challenge no matter how ill-thought out or hopeless it might seem. When the two friends worked together they were a formidable team, but when they competed things could get a little intense for anyone caught in the middle.

"Guys, we haven't hung out in forever - do you really want to start a big grudge match right away over an old video game?" he asked.

There was a moment of calm as the pair reflected on their friends' words.

"Yeah, grinding Luz into the track beneath my tires works for me," Willow said.

"I'd happily make Willow rue the day she ever picked up a controller," Luz agreed.

Gus used the remote control to shut the television off with a blank expression on his face as Luz and Willow groaned in protest. Neither of them tried to stop him though – it was his game console and they were at his house after all.

Luz turned to try and convince Gus that it was a bad idea to shut down the game just when things were heating up and was struck again by how different he looked. She knew they had all changed since they had seen each other last, but since Gus was the youngest the differences were far more obvious in him. The fact that he was now nearly a half a foot taller than Luz was somewhat disconcerting, though his attempt to grow an awful teen-beard to look older hadn't been working out too well in her opinion.

"If we aren't going to play games today what would you want to do instead?" Luz asked.

Gus shrugged.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," he admitted, "I just didn't want you guys getting super worked up over it. I've had enough drama to deal with at my club this semester to last me for the rest of the year."

"How have things been going at the Extraterrestrial Appreciation Society so far?" Willow asked.

"We don't have many members yet," Gus said, "And we already had to turn away half the potential candidates that signed up since they thought it was a club for talking about science fiction instead of a group dedicated to investigating the truth."

"So if you had to turn away half of your applicants how many did that leave you with?" Luz asked.

"Including me?" Gus asked.

"Yes," Luz said.

"Four," Gus said, "And I'm pretty sure Matt only joined because he likes arguing with the other members."

"Well the club is still new - maybe you'll get more members next semester?" Willow said encouragingly.

"Yeah! Or you could try doing other things to help drive up interest in membership," Luz said.

"Like what?" Gus asked.

Luz furrowed her brow and gave the matter careful thought.

"You could fake a UFO sighting with some drones at night - or maybe have someone wander around campus at night in a big rubber alien mask," she suggested.

Gus drew back and placed a shocked hand over his mouth.

"Luz, are you really suggesting that I should perpetuate a cheap hoax and try to fool my fellow students into joining my club out of fear instead of recruiting like minded individuals that are interested in uncovering the hidden mysteries of the universe?" he asked.

"Kinda?" Luz said with a shrug.

"That's genius!" Gus said with a snap of his fingers, "We'd be able to get a much higher club budget with more members, and maybe a better organization headquarters too. I'm pretty sure our current club office used to be a janitors closet."

Luz preened a bit after receiving her younger friends praise.

"I admit it's a good idea - but I'm not sure it means I'm a genius," she said, "Brilliant, of course but maybe not _quite_ a genius."

"Are you sure you didn't just steal your 'genius' plan from an episode of Scooby Doo?" Willow asked in a dry voice.

"Most of it, sure - but cartoons do have a lot to teach us," Luz insisted, "Where do you think I picked up my flawless grasp of the social graces?"

Gus' eyebrows shot up and a look of sudden understanding dawned on his face.

"That explains so much," he said.

A shrill beep from Willow's direction caught Luz's attention and she saw her friend pull her cell-phone out of her pocket.

A perplexed expression crossed Willow's features and she quickly tapped out a reply and then crammed the phone back into her pocket.

"Moron," she muttered under her breath, her voice barely audible.

Luz knew it was rude to pry, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"What's up?" she asked.

Willow looked up sharply and turned to Luz.

"Ah, that was just Boscha," Willow said with a too-casual shrug.

Gus turned to Willow and cocked an eyebrow.

"Isn't that the name of the girl you told me about that you wanted to throw out of a window?" he asked.

"The same," Willow said.

"How does she even have your number?" Luz asked.

"I had given it to her when we first moved in together since I thought a dorm-mate would be a good emergency contact," Willow said, "Obviously I was mistaken."

"Why is she texting you during your break - I thought you guys rotated dorms between semesters at your school? You aren't even going to be roommates again," Gus asked.

"Beats me," Willow said, "It's like she thinks we're buddies now or something. She's been texting me a stream of dumb crap since the semester ended."

"Maybe she's trying to make amends for being such a huge jerk to you before," Luz suggested.

"I think she's just desperate because her whole queen-of-high-school routine didn't get her a ton of new friends in college," Willow said.

"Why don't you just block her number then if you hate her so much?" Gus asked.

"I get bored and sometimes she's funny," Willow said, "And I guess she's been just a tiny bit less of a massive pain in the ass lately too."

"Oh? Has she now?" Luz asked in a highly suspicious tone of voice as she stroked her chin and gave Willow a half-lidded stare.

Willow's expression went stony.

"Oh no! This is not the same kind of situation at all," she objected.

"Of course it isn't," Luz said.

"I'm just saying – whatever thoughts you are thinking with your shipping-obsessed brain right now, stop thinking them,” Willow continued.

“My mind is a void of perfect serenity,” Luz assured her.

“Because this isn't one of those 'enemies to lovers' things that you love to talk about. Real life is _nothing_ like fan fiction,” Willow said.

“I never said it was,” Luz said as she raised her palms in a soothing gesture.

“At the end of the day she's still an arrogant, snobby, bully that sucks pretty much ninety-nine percent of the time who just happens to make an occasional funny text on accident,” Willow said.

“Noted,” Luz said.

"Good, as long as we're both agreed," Willow said as she crossed her arms.

Gus looked back and forth between the two.

"Am I missing something here?" he asked.

"Nope," Luz said.

"Not a thing," Willow said.

Gus slumped back against the couch and rolled his eyes.

"See, this is why I prefer aliens to people," he said.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The week leading up to Christmas found Luz falling back into a familiar routine almost without her realizing that it had happened.

Since Camila worked most days, Luz spent her afternoons hanging out with either Willow or Gus depending on who was free at the time. Occasionally she was able to see them both at once, though that was rare. No matter who she spent the day with though, Luz always tried to be home in time to make dinner for her mother when she got out of her shift so that they could share the meal. Some nights they'd even watch a movie together or stay up talking, but usually Camila was so tired from work that she would head off to bed fairly early.

Luz was already used to her mother's grueling schedule - she'd had one like it for as long as Luz could remember. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little lonely about it at the same time.

She was already used to that too though.

Luz tried not to dwell on those feelings too much. She knew that Amity was having mixed feelings about her own visit to her parents house as well from their frequent texts and late night conversations. Actually, Amity's feelings about her visit were less "mixed" and more "mostly wretched with occasional spots of merely terrible" (Amity's exact words on the subject). Luz couldn't decide if she ever wanted to meet Amity's parents or not - if only to give them a piece of her mind for how uncomfortable Amity seemed to be when she was forced to spend time with them.

Luz tried to do her best to take her girlfriend's mind off of her surroundings and came up with the solution of having late night movie screenings together. She spent and afternoon with Gus setting up a private channel to stream movies and voice chat together on her laptop. She had briefly considered seeing if Willow and Gus might want to join them so that Amity would have a chance to get to know her friends, but the idea of treating the screenings as movie dates with Amity was too appealing and she decided to keep them private.

Since these dates were long-distance Luz avoided putting on any horror films. What was the point in being scared out of her mind if she couldn't use it as a flimsy excuse to snuggle up to Amity after all? Instead, Luz decided to introduce Amity to the animated classics that she hadn't been able to see as a child. Apparently Amity's parents considered them 'too frivolous', and so had Amity at first when Luz had originally suggested watching them... but after Luz persuaded Amity to see her first Pixar film she was hooked.

As much fun as Luz had watching Amity's first-time reaction to some of her favorite childhood films, Luz still found herself growing more uneasy each time they wished each other good night and she was left alone in her old no-longer-familiar bedroom once more. Luz couldn't recall the last time she had spent so long apart from Amity since they had started dating. Even during the worst of the finals week crunch they'd still take time to get lunch together or just meet up on campus for some restful company in between the stress of the tests.

She missed the feeling of knowing that Amity was there with her. The warmth of her body snuggled up against Luz as they relaxed together on the couch after a long day. The soft brush of Amity's lips against her own. The light scent of her hair. The sound of her laughter, fresh from her lips to Luz's ears instead of distorted as an electronic signal coughed out from a speaker.

Luz never brought these feelings up to Amity because she was worried that she'd seem way too clingy, but she still found her thoughts turning toward her girlfriend more frequently the longer the break went on.

When Christmas day finally arrived Luz was surprised by how easily it had managed to sneak up on her in her distracted state.

Illness and injuries, unfortunately, did not take time off for the holidays and neither could the people who helped treat them – Luz had already been warned by her mother that she would have to work during the holiday. Camila had managed to call in a few favors among her fellow nurses though to get the morning off that day so that she and Luz could exchange their gifts and spend some time together before she had to go in for a later shift.

Luz was absolutely floored when her mother had presented her with a brand new laptop to replace the buggy old one which she'd been using since her freshman year of high school.

After a present like that Luz felt embarrassed by the fact that she had given her mother a pair of comfortable slippers since she spent most of the day on her feet, but Camila still treated them like they were made of gold.

When her mother had embraced her after she opened up the slippers Luz had felt almost like a child again, and any embarrassment she had felt about the gift vanished as if by magic.

Eda's gifts for the two were a pair of matching hand-knitted scarves with the word 'Bad Girl' worked into them, which didn't seem to justify the ominous warning about curses that she had given Luz. They were still nice scarves though, made from very soft yarn and with a good length. Luz was sure that hers would go very nicely with her new hat.

Once all the gifts had been opened Luz and her mother settled down for a breakfast of pancakes with hot chocolate. The food was delicious, but Luz couldn't stop herself from wondering if Amity had already opened the gift which Luz had given her yet and wished that she had been there to see it when she did.

 _I hope she likes them_ , Luz thought.

She snapped out of her wistful daydream when she felt her mother touch her gently on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing really," Luz said.

"Are you sure?" Camila prodded, “You looked like you were a million miles away.”

Luz's fingers drummed out a nervous beat on the tabletop as she weighed the question.

"I've just been feeling a little weird lately I guess," she answered, "I'm here at home again and getting to see you after so long... but I almost feel like I'm still homesick."

Camila gave Luz's shoulder a gentle squeeze and smiled at her a little sadly.

"That's normal," she said, "It's all part of growing up - finding the place and the people that become your new home."

Luz's eyes widened and she waved her hands quickly in denial.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean that I'm not happy here spending with you-" Luz began.

Camila cut her off with a laugh.

"I know that mija," Camila said, "Of course you'll always have a home here with me - but now you have a new place that feels more like it's _your_ home and that's okay too."

Luz felt the words sink in and found that she couldn't disagree with them. As much as she did love her mother, and had enjoyed getting to see her there was still a large part of her mind that couldn't wait to return to the shabby little attic bedroom that she now called home.

Camila's afternoon shift came on sooner than Luz would have thought possible, and she was left alone at home once again not long after their pancakes and cocoa had been polished off.

She thought, briefly, about the possibility of contacting Willow or Gus to hang out as usual but then realized that they'd both likely be spending the whole day with their families.

Luz sent a Christmas greeting to Eda rather than sit around and wallow in self-pity, as well as a selfie of herself wearing her new scarf. Eda replied with a shot of herself wearing an identical one, with King perched above her on top of her chair. The cat's expression was, if possible, even more baleful than normal – most likely because of the small set of felt reindeer antlers that Eda had somehow managed to secure to the top of his head.

Luz gave a dark chuckle at the look on the cats face when she remembered all of the times that the little demon had used her stomach as a springboard for jumping to her dresser when she had been trying to sleep.

She was about to send a reply suggesting further additions that could be made to King's festive reindeer getup when a message alert from Amity appeared on her phone.

 **calAMITY** : So this is going to sound weird but bear with me.

 **calAMITY** : I'm going to send you a file and I need you to not open it, but keep it somewhere safe.

 **calAMITY** : Make a few backups if you can too.

Luz stared down at her phone in confusion as a message with an attachment labeled HOMEWORK appeared on her screen. It looked like a music file - or at least a sound file anyway.

 **Me** : Well that's cryptic.

 **calAMITY** : I'll explain more later.

 **calAMITY** : Oh - merry Chrismtas by the way! I loved the earrings.

 **Me** : I'm glad you did. I wasn't sure they'd be your style.

 **calAMITY** : I don't know if they are either, but I'm wearing them anyway.

 **Me** : Are you sure you don't want to give me a few hints about the spy movie situation that I've suddenly found myself in?

 **Me** : Should I be on the lookout for mysterious guys in dark suits and eyepatches?

 **Me** : Did you send me the launch codes to something?

There was a long pause before Amity's reply appeared on her screen.

 **calAMITY** : I promise I'll tell you everything when we're back home so that I can do it in person.

 **calAMITY** : Just trust me that you aren't in any danger.

Curiosity gnawed at Luz but she sighed in resignation.

 **Me** : Okay, I trust you.

 **calAMITY** : Thank you.

 **calAMITY** : I'm probably going to be leaving for Bonesborough later today. When are you getting back?

 **Me** : I was thinking of going back tomorrow or the day after.

 **calAMITY** : I can't wait to see you again.

 **Me** : Me too.

 **Me** : We should have a little New Years party together when we're home!

 **calAMITY** : I like the sound of that. It should be much nicer than the one I was at last night.

 **calAMITY** : Okay, I've got to go for now. I have something important to take care of before I leave.

 **calAMITY** : Wish me luck.

 **Me** : Good luck!

 **calAMITY** : I love you.

 **Me** : Love you too.

Luz stared at the mysterious file that had dropped into her lap without warning, but she firmly bit back on her growing curiosity. Amity had asked her not to open it, and Luz would never want to be thought of as someone that would betray her girlfriend's trust.

Some part of her mind still couldn't help but feel that they might be launch codes though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually managed to write this chapter a bit faster than I'd expected thanks to the Thanksgiving break. Hopefully the next one won't take too long once I get started on it. 
> 
> The next chapter will take place around the same time-frame as this one, but it will be showing Amity's trip to Blight Manor and what she got up to there.
> 
> As always feedback is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some. All the encouraging comments I've received on my other chapters have been a huge motivator for me, and I'm glad that there are people who have been enjoying the story so far.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two quick notes:
> 
> 1) This chapter is super long - like, twice the length of one of my normal chapters
> 
> 2) This chapter takes place during the same time frame as the previous chapter, but from Amity's POV instead of Luz's.
> 
> With that out of the way, read on!

The drive to Blight Manor from Amity's apartment in Bonesborough normally took a little under three hours in good traffic. Spending so long stuck behind the wheel was exhausting, but as the street signs began to announce that she was drawing closer and closer to her parents home Amity couldn't help but wish that it had taken a little longer. Some theoretical amount of extra time that would give her enough breathing room to completely calm the unpleasant clenching feeling in her stomach and quiet the hammering beat of her heart.

 _A week or two would probably do it_ , she thought.

_Though I'd probably have to stop for gas a lot on the way._

She had replayed the conversation with Edric and Emira in her head a dozen times since their lunch together several days ago. Her mind had concocted a number of scenarios to explain how her parents might have discovered her relationship, some more outlandish than others, as well as how the situation might play out when they inevitably brought it up.

_Of course, there's also the possibility that they still might not actually know for sure._

_Ed and Em only said that they might have suspected something - and the twins did seem pretty surprised when they met Luz._

_Mom and Dad didn't bring anything up when I called them last night to let them know I'd be heading over today either, and they aren't exactly shy when it comes to sharing their opinions about how I should be living my life._

_Unless they're trying to lull me into a false sense of security, which is also a possibility._

Amity knew that she would have to tell her parents that she was dating Luz at some point of course, though personally she had been hoping it would be later.

Much, much later.

She blew out a frustrated breath.

 _Thinking about this isn't helping to calm me down,_ Amity chided herself.

She focused her eyes on the road ahead and pushed the distracting thoughts out of her mind.

She was getting ahead of herself.

For all Amity knew the trip might just be a short stay at the manor for a week or two until she would be able to politely escape back to Bonesborough again with her familial obligations thoroughly fulfilled for at least a few months.

Annoying of course, but bearable. Possibly even a little enjoyable if her current understanding with her siblings managed to last for the whole duration of the visit and her parents were in one of their better moods.

After passing through a stretch of thickly forested road Amity spotted the familiar silhouette of Blight Manor in the distance, looming out over the tops of the surrounding trees from its perch atop a large gently sloping hill. The old mansion was a strange blend of architectural styles, as if it had been designed by someone that wanted to see what would happen if a Medieval fortress and a Gothic cathedral had a baby together and then had abandoned their offspring to grow feral out in the wilderness.

Amity pulled her car up to the intercom built into the tall wrought-iron gates which bordered the property and hit the call button to announce her arrival.

After about a minute of waiting she hit the button again and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel impatiently.

There was a crackling sound from the speaker and a deep voice boomed out.

"Know ye the password to enter the Manor of Blight?", the voice demanded.

Amity rolled her eyes.

"Ed, just open the gate already - I've been stuck in this car for hours," she said.

"Would it kill you to play along for once Mittens?" her brother asked.

"No, but it might kill _you_ if you keep me waiting much longer," she said.

"Fine, but just so you know you're missing out on all the great riddles I'd prepared in case you guessed the password," he said.

There was a mechanical _CLANK_ sound as the motors engaged and began to part the gates open, allowing Amity to squeeze her car between them and continue on her way up the winding tree-lined driveway.

The grounds looked as well cared for as always, and Amity could just make out the edge of the expanse of forested land which stretched out from behind the house all the way to the end of the property several acres away.

Amity had always loved taking long walks through the rambling paths which weaved between the pines as a child. She had even once found a tree which had the name 'ALADOR' carved into its trunk in rough, angular letters and realized that her father must have made it himself when he wasn't much older than she had been at the time.

She hoped that she would have the chance to take another wandering trip through the old woods while she was staying at the manor. It felt good to move between the shade of the trees with the scent of earth in the air and the sounds of bird calls in her ears, and to be able to enjoy a few hours of peaceful solitude.

Amity parked her car at the front of the house, grabbed her small suitcase from the passenger seat and then marched up the long path of stone stairs which lead to the houses' overly-tall arched double-doors. Each door had a large antique bronze knocker in the shape of a wolf's head holding a ring in their jaws, though rather than being a plain bronze circle these rings took the form of snakes swallowing their own tails.

Not for the first time, Amity was extremely thankful that her ancestors' terrible sense of taste hadn't proved to be hereditary.

Ignoring the knockers, Amity pressed the much more modern looking doorbell installed off to the side and rubbed her hands together to warm them up against the cold. She was about to poke the button again when the door swung open to reveal her sister standing in the doorway and wearing the most spectacularly ugly Christmas sweater that Amity had ever seen in her life.

 _Or maybe it was hereditary and I just managed to avoid getting that gene_ , Amity thought as she contemplated her sisters sweater.

"Mittens - you made it!" Emira said in a cheerful voice.

Amity tore her attention away from the garish garment, though it was difficult. The tiny blinking electric lights which were meticulously worked into the spaces between the yarn really drew the eye.

"Hey Em, when did you get here?" she asked.

"Ed and I arrived yesterday," Emira replied, "Though we got in pretty late. Do you need any help getting your stuff down?"

Amity shook her head.

"I packed light," she said with a nod toward her single suitcase, "I've still got mountains of clothes here and I figured that if we're going to be doing one of Dad's big parties for the BlightChem investors that Mom would already have all of our outfits picked out for us."

Emira made a face but nodded in agreement as she let Amity into the house and shut the door behind them.

"Yeah, we've already seen ours," she said.

"Bad?" Amity asked.

"No, they look nice like always - she just has me and Ed matching _again_ this year. I'm getting a little tired of just being seen as part of a set, you know?" Emira said.

Amity glanced down at her sister's sweater in horrified fascination once more.

"Well, you could always show up to the party wearing that instead," Amity suggested, "I'm pretty sure it wouldn't match with anything else on Earth."

Emira laughed.

"I don't think I'm ready to get disowned again just yet," she said, "I already practically had to fight Mom off with a fork over breakfast to keep her from tearing it off my back and throwing it in the fireplace."

"Where did you get it anyway?" Amity asked.

Emira's cheeks flushed pink.

"Ah... um, my girlfriend got it for me," she said.

"Oh," Amity said.

She gave her sister a consoling pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she still cares about you even despite that," she said.

"Hey, fuck you - this sweater is great!" Emira said.

"Yeah, sorry for that. I just wanted a little payback after how you guys had teased me about Luz," Amity said.

"Fair enough I guess," Emira said with a grudging nod of her head.

"Are Mom and Dad home right now?" Amity asked.

"Yeah, but they're both in their private offices working at the moment so you probably won't see them until dinner time. Want to do anything till then?" Emira asked.

"Just get my stuff unpacked and then maybe get something for lunch - the only thing I've eaten since breakfast was a bag of trail mix from a gas station," Amity said.

"Sounds good. Let me know if you want to do something later though, we've only been here a day and I'm already going out of my mind. I'd forgotten how boring it can get trapped out here in Dracula's castle," Emira replied.

Amity left Emira at the huge open foyer of the manor and climbed up the main staircase to the second floor where her bedroom was located. The stone walls of the house still seemed to suck the heat right out of the hallways exactly as Amity remembered.

Amity's room had the sterile feeling of a museum exhibit to it - the bed looked as though it had been freshly made that morning despite the fact that it had been unoccupied for months and the shelf of soccer trophies and academic awards located above her desk was free of dust. Amity realized that her parents must have ordered the staff to make it ready when she had told them that she was going to be on her way over today.

She stood in the center of the wide open floor and took in the sight of the room, trying to see if that would help her conjure up some sort of feeling of nostalgia for the space where she had spent almost all of her life up until now.

Unsurprisingly, all she really felt was tired from the drive up.

She sat on her bed and then gave a yelp of surprise when she sank deep into the overly-soft mattress.

_Oh, right. Different bed than the one at my apartment._

She dug her phone out of her jacket pocket and opened up her text screen.

 **Me** : Just got to my parents place.

 **Me** : I'd forgotten that the mattress of my old bed was stuffed with marshmallows for some reason.

 **Luz** : I guess the rich really do live different lives than the rest of us if they turn food into furniture.

 **Luz** : Aren't you worried that it'll attract ants?

 **Me** : You do remember that my family makes poison for a living, right? I don't think there's a bug alive that could survive in here.

 **Luz** : That or you'll end up accidentally creating a breed of poison-proof super ants.

 **Me** : I'd always thought my family might have a hand in destroying the world one day.

 **Luz** : What's it like to be back home? Were your parents happy to see you?

 **Me** : It's quiet here, but that's normal. I haven't seen my parents yet either, they're both still working.

 **Luz** : I hope it goes well when you go see them then.

 **Me** : Me too.

Amity flopped back into the bed and felt her body sink even deeper into the mattress.

 _I have no idea how I managed to sleep in this thing every night for years,_ she wondered to herself.

_Though maybe this could explain all those nightmares I used to have about being sucked into a pool of quicksand._

She shifted around trying to find a comfortable position, and already missed the feeling of the much firmer mattress from her bedroom in Bonesborough.

She missed the person that she had occasionally shared it with even more though.

Luz had stayed overnight with her the day before Amity had left, for the first time. She had insisted that she wanted to experience the maximum amount of Amity-time possible before they would have to spend an unknown number of days apart.

Amity had confessed that she was a little nervous about the idea at first since she had never spent a whole night together with anyone before.

“What's there to worry about?” Luz had said, “All we're going to be doing is spooning.”

“I suppose you're right,” Amity had replied.

“After all, it's not like we haven't already forked,” Luz added with a ridiculously suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.

Amity's response had taken the form of a swiftly thrown pillow to her face.

Whatever nervousness Amity had felt about the idea had quickly melted away after Luz had burrowed into the blankets behind her and then pulled Amity in close enough to feel the rise and fall of the breath in her girlfriend's chest. The combination of that regular rhythm and the feeling of absolute security she had with Luz's arms wrapped around her body had given Amity the most peaceful night of sleep that she'd had in years.

Her last thought before she had finally drifted out of consciousness had been to wish that she could feel that same sensation every night.

Amity closed her eyes with a sigh at the memory and a small smile curled up at the corners of her lips.

* * *

Amity's eyes shot open and she managed to pull herself out from the plush depths of the mattress with some effort. She was confused when she saw that the large windows facing outside toward the forest showed stars peeking out from between the clouds instead of the afternoon sun that had been there when she had arrived.

Amity groped around the bed for her phone and stared at the time on the display after she had found it. Somehow the weariness from her long drive combined with the peaceful memories of the night before had sent her into a several-hours-long blink before she had even realized it.

It was nearly seven o' clock now, which meant that it was almost dinner time. Dinner had always been served at seven at Blight Manor for as long as Amity could remember, and according to her father that routine hadn't changed since he had grown up there himself.

Amity glanced down at the rumpled sweater and leggings she had worn on the drive and weighed whether or not it was worth getting changed into fresher clothes on the off-chance that it would help her avoid a snide comment about there being such a thing as being 'too informal' at dinner.

 _It might be best to try and not get on their bad side on my first day back,_ Amity decided.

She dug a simple but expensive dress out from her closet, slipped it on and then made her way downstairs toward the smaller dining room where the family ate their private meals, rather than the larger one which was reserved for parties and banquets. She paused outside the doors when she heard the distinctive lilt of her mother's voice and the sharp tone of her father's reply.

Amity took a deep breath and steadied herself.

 _Here goes nothing_ , she thought as she opened the door and stepped inside.

The four seated around the table turned to face Amity almost simultaneously after the old door had announced her arrival with a loud creak.

“Room for one more?” she asked with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of a smile.

The smile her mother gave her in return was perfect. Odalia Blight's smiles were always perfect – each one looked as clean and sharp as if it had been ordered from a catalog that sold luxury knives.

“Of course dear – you're right on time,” her mother said.

“Come Amity, take a seat,” her father said, waving an arm to indicate one of the many empty chairs pushed up against the long table.

Amity moved up and chose a chair across from Edric and Emira, who each gave her a small smile and a discreet wave of welcome.

The food was excellent, especially compared to the quick and cheap takeout fare that Amity had been living on since she had moved out. She made a note to herself to thank the cook later if she saw her – trying her hand at cooking with Luz had given Amity a new appreciation for the effort it must have taken to make such an elaborate meal.

As the meal progressed the conversation was all fairly subdued. To no-one's surprise the topic which the Blight parents largely spoke about was their children's most recent grades, and Amity breathed a sigh of relief when she saw they had nothing critical to say about hers.

She had passed all of her classes with high marks, but even so she had been worried that they would have still found some complaint to make.

“You did excellent work this semester Amity,” her father had said.

“Yes, we were both very impressed,” her mother added.

“Thank you,” Amity replied, feeling a small pulse of genuine pleasure at their comments.

“Just remember that you'll need to keep them at that level in the future – it wouldn't do if you were to lose focus and start slipping,” her father said.

“As a Blight you must be sure that you maintain the highest standards at all times,” her mother said.

The warm pulse faded, and Amity swallowed a bite of food which had suddenly turned to ashes in her mouth.

“Of course,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Speak up louder dear,” Odalia said, “It's not polite to mumble.”

Emira shot her sister a sympathetic wince and then nudged her twin with her elbow. Edric jolted in his seat and saw the glance his sister was directing his way.

“So, Dad,” Edric said in a loud voice, “I was thinking of switching my major to Drama this semester!”

The silence that fell over the table at that announcement was deafening, but Amity felt an enormous sense of relief that she was no longer under the spotlight.

 _I really owe Ed for this one,_ she thought to herself as father and son fell into an extremely pointed back and forth about Edric's future, and how unlikely he was to still have one if he made too many rash decisions.

Odalia glanced about the table and smiled once again after the argument had ended in a polite stalemate.

“It's so good to have the whole family back together under one roof again,” she said.

Amity privately wondered if the reason her mother felt that way was because it made it easier to keep an eye on them all.

Her father cleared his throat loudly, and waited until the rest of the family had turned their attention to him before he spoke.

“As you all know we'll be hosting a party on Christmas Eve here at the manor,” Alador said, “And we expect all three of you to be in attendance as well as on your best behavior.”

“There will be a number of very important guests coming that night – it's a good chance to make connections that could prove useful to the family,” Odalia added.

“Sounds like a real blast,” Emira said in a dry voice.

“It might not be the same sort of party you and your brother have been enjoying at _Glandus_ ,” her father said in a voice that dripped with disdain at the mention of their school, “but the deals and alliances that we could make that night would prove far more beneficial to you later in life than honing your skill at beer pong.”

“Are you sure about that?” Edric asked, “She's really good.”

“I think I might even get a sponsorship deal,” Emira added.

Amity stifled a shocked snort of laughter behind her hand. Her eyes darted back and forth between her parents and siblings, and tension coiled up in her gut like a tightly-wound spring as she awaited her father's response to the comment.

To her surprise, Alador chuckled and shook his head.

“Just try not to break anything if you can,” he said, “I'd rather not come out of this situation owing more favors than my guests should be owing me.”

Amity's sense of confusion only increased at that, but before she could try and probe the mystery further her mother was demanding her attention.

“Amity, dear,” Odalia said, “Since we're on the subject of the party we need to decide what you're going to be wearing.”

Amity turned to face her mother and gave her a polite shrug.

“A dress, I assumed,” she said.

“Well of course a dress,” Odalia said with a raised eyebrow, “I just realized that the color I'd picked out before you had arrived is all wrong for you though.”

She reached out a hand and took a lock of Amity's hair between her fingers to examine it closer under the light.

“I miss your blonde hair,” she said, “The fabric I chose would have looked spectacular with it.”

Amity kept her hands in her lap, fingers clenched together in a tight grip and resisted the urge to tug her hair out from her mother's grasp.

“It wasn't really _my_ blonde hair Mom,” Amity pointed out, “And I've got a closet full of dresses upstairs from other events that would probably work.”

“Are you sure I can't convince you to dye it back just for the party?” Odalia asked as she smoothed the stray lock back into place, “You could always grow it out again afterwards.”

Amity shook her head quickly.

“Sorry, no,” she said, “I'd rather not.”

Odalia's eyes narrowed and Amity felt a cold tingle crawl up the small of her back, but she held her mother's gaze without flinching.

“If you insist then, dear,” Odalia said with a shrug, “It's just such a shame. You were very pretty as a blonde.”

Amity ignored the unspoken implication in her mother's words and set her utensils down on top of her mostly-empty plate.

“I think I'm going to head back upstairs now,” she said in an artificially bright tone, “It was a long drive getting here and I'm still feeling very tired.”

Alador inclined his head toward his daughter.

“Have a good night then Amity,” he said.

“Yes, sweet dreams darling,” her mother added.

Amity leaned back against the door to the dining room after it had clicked shut behind her and blew out an exhausted breath.

 _That's one dinner down_ , she thought.

_So many more to go though._

_All in all, it could have gone much worse_ , she thought as she made her way back up the stairs.

_That was actually even pretty pleasant for Mom and Dad now that I think about it._

_I guess I'm just not used their... ways... after spending a few months away from them._

_It'll probably get easier in a few days after I've readjusted._

She tried to ignore the sting she felt in her chest at that thought.

Amity hadn't been back in her room for very long when a soft knock at the door had pulled her attention away from re-reading Luz's latest story on her phone.

She answered the door and found her siblings waiting outside.

“Hey Mittens, mind if we join you for a bit?” Edric asked.

“Unless you actually are sleepy and didn't just say that to escape dinner,” Emira added.

Amity gave her brother and sister a small smile.

“Come on in,” she said, “I took a nap earlier so I probably won't be sleeping for a while.”

The three sprawled across the various chairs and other pieces of furniture scattered around the room and fell into a hushed conversation. Amity knew that there was no need for them to be so quiet since their parents rooms were located in the opposite wing of the Manor, but it seemed more fun that way. Like they were all in a conspiracy together.

Nothing truly significant was said as they chatted, but Amity did feel as though some of the weight in her chest began to grow lighter as she exchanged good-natured barbs with her siblings.

A feeling bloomed in Amity's chest that she couldn't fully understand at first. Something warm yet sad, and with a jagged hint of anxiety lurking just beneath the surface.

 _Ah_ , she thought to herself as she realized what it was at last.

 _I finally feel like I'm back home again_.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The arrival of Boscha and Skara at Blight Manor took Amity completely by surprise.

In retrospect she should have suspected the possibility when Skara had sent her a text asking Amity if she had decided to come home for the holidays after all. A combination of curiosity and boredom had compelled Amity to reply that she had already arrived. After spending three days at the Manor, Amity was dying for something to take her mind off of her surroundings and chatting with Skara seemed like a harmless way to pass the time.

It wasn't long afterwards that a fiery red sports car had roared right up to the gates of the Manor, and both of Amity's closest high school companions were demanding to be let in. Amity briefly considered trying to find some way to pretend that she wasn't home at the moment, but she knew that actually snubbing the pair wasn't an option. Boscha's mother and Amity's mother had politely detested each other for years and Odalia wouldn't stand for the idea of her daughter being outright rude to the daughter of her rival - it would reflect badly on her if she did after all.

It felt so strange to see them both again, standing in her room as though Amity had traveled back in time to high school and they had come over to hang out after classes had let out.

Skara hadn't changed much since Amity had last seen her – though her roots were starting to show at the base of her silvery-lavender dyed hair. She had surprised Amity by greeting her with a crushingly tight hug, and the look in Skara's eyes showed that she was genuinely happy to see her.

Amity had felt a pang of guilt at seeing her expression since she hadn't made any serious attempts to contact Skara after she had moved out to Bonesborough. She'd told herself that she wanted a clean break from her old life, but she hadn't considered the idea that she would have actually been missed by anyone from her former social circle.

Boscha's greeting was a much more subdued wave and a flash of her characteristically toothy smirk.

“How've you been Blight?” Boscha had asked.

Boscha, unlike Skara, did look somewhat different in ways that Amity couldn't quite place at first. It was true that her hairstyle was a little shorter, but there was something in her posture that seemed like it was the real source of that difference. Boscha's shoulders were hunched beneath her old Banshee's team jacket and her eyes seemed to lack the almost predatory gleam that Amity had grown used to seeing on her face.

“Busy, mostly,” Amity answered, “And you?”

“So fucking boooooored,” Boscha said with an exaggerated groan.

“Weird choice coming here then,” Amity said, “You know this house is practically a tomb.”

“Yeah, but we're here to pick you up so we can all head into town,” Skara chirped out.

“We thought you'd appreciate a change of scenery,” Boscha said, “You never wanted to hang out here much when we used to get together.”

Amity's eyebrows rose at that.

“That's...oddly considerate of you,” she said in a surprised voice.

“What are friends for?” Boscha asked with a shrug, “Plus if I'm the one driving that means I can probably guilt you into buying us all lunch.”

“Did you blow through your entire credit card limit on something dumb again?” Amity asked.

“What are you, my mom?” Boscha scoffed, “Do you want to come with us or not?”

“Hey!” Skara snapped.

Both Boscha and Amity turned to her, each with a look of surprise on their face.

“We haven't seen each other in months, so knock it off with your bickering already,” Skara said in a firm tone of voice.

Boscha rolled her eyes.

“Sure thing, Skara,” she said.

“Yeah, sorry Skara,” Amity said, “I've just been kind of on edge the last few days.”

“Your parents live in a haunted house, of course you would be,” Boscha said.

“ _Allegedly_ haunted,” Amity said, “I'm pretty sure Ed and Em made up the headless ghost story just to mess with me when I was little.”

“Remember how scared you used to be about it?” Boscha asked with a grin.

“No, but I do remember that you couldn't even look at a picture of a clown without going catatonic afterward,” Amity said.

“Hey! A lot of people are scared of clowns, that's not weird!” Boscha protested.

“No bickering I said!” Skara snapped again, pointing a stern finger at each of them for emphasis.

For a moment, Amity considered telling the two that she wasn't feeling well that day or finding some other excuse that would allow her to slip out from having to spend the afternoon with them. Boredom won out once again though, and she grabbed a warm coat and followed them out to Boscha's car.

“How's life over at Hexside?” Skara had asked as they shot off down the near-empty roads leading away from the manor at breakneck speed.

“Quiet. I've spent most of my time just studying,” Amity replied, “I took way too many classes this semester.”

It was true, but not really the whole truth of course. She didn't want to talk about Luz with them though. Even if Amity had felt closer to Boscha and Skara than she did she also knew that their parents ran in the same circles as her own, and neither of them were particularly good at keeping secrets.

“You're always spending your time studying,” Boscha said, “You really need to lighten up and enjoy yourself more.”

“She's right, Amity,” Skara said, “You do tend to get way too caught up in your work and never have any time for fun.”

“I still have fun!” Amity objected.

“ _Real_ fun Amity, not whatever nerdy stuff that you'd end up doing if you didn't have us around to drag you out of the library,” Boscha said.

“Like me - I joined a band!” Skara said in a voice that bubbled with enthusiasm.

"That's pretty cool," Amity said, a small smile tugging up at the corners of her mouth in the face of Skara's positivity, "What kind of music do you guys play?"

"We're still trying to figure out our sound," Skara said, "So we've been trying out different styles to see what works."

“Nothing has yet though, they kind of suck,” Boscha said with a snort of laughter.

“What the hell Boshca?” Amity objected.

Skara giggled.

“She's not totally wrong,” she confessed, “We aren't that great, but I've still been having a lot of fun playing with them. Haven't you seen any of our performances? I posted some videos I took of us up on my channel.”

Another fresh twinge of guilt flashed through Amity's chest at the question.

“I haven't really spent much time online lately,” Amity said evasively.

“I'll say,” Boscha agreed, “Your Penstagram has been a ghost town. Made it kind of hard to keep in touch.”

“So, what have you been up to lately Boscha?” Amity asked quickly.

She knew if there was one thing that Boscha loved talking about it was herself, and the surest way to deflect any conversation was to invite her to speak on her favorite subject.

To Amity's surprise, Boscha was silent for a few beats before she replied.

“Honestly, not all that much,” Boscha said, “The soccer program at my school is absolute garbage. I quit the team after a few games. Everyone there was just really fucking lame.”

“Wait, really?” Amity asked.

 _That_ was surprising. Boscha had loved soccer – or at least she'd loved being one of the star players on the team along with all of the perks and adulation that came with it.

“Yeah,” Boscha said, “It just wasn't that fun playing without having you guys on the field with me I guess.”

 _That was weirdly sentimental for Boscha_ , Amity thought.

_I guess even she can get lonely sometimes though._

“Plus you got in trouble for fighting with the captain all the time,” Skara said.

“She was an idiot, and I'd rather not play at all than play on her team,” Boscha growled.

 _Ah, there it is_ , Amity thought.

“The semester wasn't a total loss though,” Boscha said, “My dorm mate was a huge dork, but she's also kind of cute too and she can barely keep her hands off me.”

“Are you saying that because she constantly threatens you with physical violence?” Skara asked.

“That's just her way of flirting,” Boscha replied with a familiar note of smug confidence, “I know she's secretly crazy about me.”

“Really? Because from what you'd told me it sounds more like you just drive her crazy,” Skara said.

“There's a difference?” Boscha asked.

“In your case? Probably not,” Amity said.

“Screw you Blight, I'm not going to take romantic advice from the girl that didn't go on a single date during all four years of high school,” Boscha scoffed.

Amity knew that shouldn't have hurt as much as it did, but the comment still felt like it had knocked the air right out of her lungs anyway.

Skara must have noticed the change in Amity's expression, because she immediately rounded on Boscha with a sharp glare in her grey eyes.

“Hey!” Skara said, “Do I need to start smacking you with a newspaper or something? No bickering means no bickering.”

“What? She started it,” Boscha grumbled.

“Amity made a joke and then you had to go and take it too far, like always,” Skara countered.

“All I'm saying is that if Amity had spent less time with her face buried in her books she could probably have spent more time with it buried between some cute girls le-,”

“Don't be gross Boscha,” Skara interrupted.

“Grow up Skara, don't pretend to be super innocent all of a sudden,” Boscha said.

“Could you guys pull over?” Amity said in a sharp voice, “I think I'll just walk back home from here.”

“Hey, come one Amity, don't be like that,” Boscha said, “You know we're only playing around.”

“Yeah – I'm sure Boscha is _very sorry for what she said_ ,” Skara said as she shot a pointed glare at the girl behind the wheel.

Boscha was silent for a moment, then blew out a frustrated breath.

“Yeah, my bad,” Boscha said in a grudging tone.

Amity grunted in response. She knew that was as close to an apology as she was likely to get from Boscha, and frankly the thought of trudging back through the cold on foot was seeming less and less like a good idea the further they got from the Manor.

There was a tense silence in the car that lasted a few minutes, but Skara was gradually able to work her way through the shells that Boscha and Amity had put up and got the conversation flowing again.

Most of the afternoon was spent doing last minute gift shopping once the trio had reached the commercial heart of the city. Skara's much older sisters had unexpectedly dropped in on her parents for the holidays which meant that she now had to pick up presents for her numerous nieces and nephews. Amity also realized that she hadn't actually bought anything for her own family as well between the stress of studying for her exams and agonizing over whether or not to give Luz the story she had written for her, and decided to try and find gifts for them as well.

Figuring out what to buy for Edric and Emira had been tricky since they both had a variety of interests that they seemed to obsess over and then grow bored with after a short time. Amity eventually settled on buying each of them a matching pair of extremely gaudy looking mittens as a playful form of payback for their nickname for her.

Her mother and father weren't so simple to shop for though. Amity felt herself grow increasingly despondent the more she thought about trying to find a gift that would satisfy either of them, or at least one that would be accepted without a backhanded compliment given in return.

 _It's not like I can buy good publicity for the family or an increase in BlightChem stock prices at a store_ , Amity thought.

"How about these?" Boscha had suggested from behind Amity as she had stood staring pensively at a display of expensive jewelry.

Amity turned around and saw that Boscha was holding up a pair of cheap ceramic mugs with "Worlds Best Mom" and "World's Best Dad" written on them.

"Pretty perfect, right?" Boscha said with a sarcastic smirk on her face.

Amity couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up out of her throat. She knew that she must have been laughing far too loud and far too long judging by the uncomfortable looks that the other nearby shoppers were giving her but she found that she just didn't care.

The laughter eventually subsided, and Amity straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes after a final giggle sent twinges of pain arcing through her ribs and stomach muscles.

"Yeah, fuck it," she said in a breathless voice, "Put them in the basket."

"Are you... uh... you doing okay there Amity?" Boscha asked.

Amity flashed her a sharp smile in return.

"Peachy," she said.

"Alright then," Boscha said with a shrug.

Once the last of the shopping was finally finished the trio decided to stop for a hot drink at a popular cafe they had visited frequently in high school.

As they waited in the long line leading up to the counter Amity found herself getting drawn into a lively debate with Skara about whether they should get hot cocoa or coffee while Boscha was trying to start a dare with both of them to see who could handle the most shots of espresso in a single drink. Amity was surprised to find that she was actually beginning to relax and enjoy herself in the familiar surroundings and company.

“You guys order whatever you like - I'll cover the drinks for all of us,” Amity said as she pulled her credit card out from her bag.

“Look at the big spender over here,” Boscha said with a grin, “I thought you always liked to split the orders to be responsible with your money?”

“It's not like its really _my_ money anyway,” Amity said with a shrug, “Besides this is just a little thank you – for getting me out of the house today.”

“It's been a lot of fun!” Skara said, “I missed getting to hang out like this with you guys.”

“God, why do you always have to be so sappy Skara?” Boscha asked with a roll of her eyes.

When the last customer ahead of them had been served and they were finally at the front of the line Amity noticed that the barista working at the counter had stiffened at the sight of their group. Some animal instinct in the back of Amity's mind began to send jolts of panic churning in her gut, but she had no idea why until she looked closer at the barista's face.

It took Amity a second to realize why the barista had seemed so familiar earlier, but then she realized that the girl had gone to her high school. She had also been one of Boscha's favorite targets all through their senior year.

All of those feelings of warmth and relaxation that had begun to bloom in Amity's chest curdled up inside of her in an instant.

Amity's eyes darted back and forth between Boscha and the barista as she greeted them in a stilted voice and asked what she could get for them. No spark of recognition flashed in the pink haired girls eyes as Boscha drawled out an extremely specific coffee order that probably required more steps to make it than most of Amity's chemistry lab experiments had taken this semester. Skara ordered a simple hot cocoa for herself and once she was finished the barista turned to Amity with a wary look in her eyes and asked what she wanted for herself.

 _How do they not recognize her?_ , Amity thought.

“Your order Ami- I mean, ma'am?,” the girl asked again, snapping Amity out of her anxiety fueled daze.

“Oh! Yes, sorry – um, just a... uh... a chai latte for me,” she said as her eyes darted up to the menu overhead and picked an item at random.

She handed over her card to pay for the three drinks and then moved off to join Boscha and Skara at the table where they had sat down.

Skara looked Amity over and a concerned expression came over her face.

“Amity, what's wrong?” she asked.

Amity looked back and forth at the two for a moment.

“Did you guys seriously not notice anything about the barista?” she asked.

Boscha looked up from her phone and glanced over at the girl behind the counter. Her lips quirked up in a small smile.

“Oooooh, I see,” she said.

“You do?” Amity asked.

“Sure – I mean, she's not really _my_ type but if that's what you're into then you should just go up and ask for her number when our drinks are done,” Boscha replied before turning back to her phone.

“Seriously Boscha?” Amity said, feeling a hot jab of anger at her indifference.

“Yeah, it's not hard – I've done it plenty of times,” Boscha said.

“Has it ever worked?” Skara asked her in a teasing tone.

“It will eventually,” Boscha said, “The law of averages is on my side.”

“So you two don't recognize her at all?” Amity pressed.

“Should I?” Boscha asked.

Skara squinted over at the barista and then snapped her fingers.

“Wait, I got it! She went to school with us, right?” Skara said.

“Oh yeah? Anyone we knew?” Boscha asked.

Amity stared at Boscha.

She had spent so long feeling wracked with guilt over the way they had treated the girl that it seemed utterly insane to her that Boscha didn't even recognize her now. Even though it was Boscha that had always instigated things, Amity had still felt like a monster for just standing by and watching it happen day after day.

She felt even worse for the few times that she had joined in when she'd been having one of her bad days. Those stressful days when all the pressure had mounted up inside her and it felt good to take it all out on someone else, even if they didn't deserve it. Maybe especially if they didn't deserve it.

Amity had talked till her throat was hoarse with Dr. Clawthorne trying to find some way to forgive herself for what she'd done, and what she'd allowed to happen without lifting a finger to stop it... and Boscha didn't even have the slightest idea who she was anymore.

“You-, no, _we_ used to bully her,” Amity said.

Skara turned to Amity with a shocked look on her face.

“Come on Amity, we weren't really _bullies_!”, Skara protested.

“Yeah,” Boscha agreed, “We liked to mess around a little, sure, but it was all just for fun. It's not like we ever made anyone kill themselves.”

“She never looked like she'd been having any _fun_ when we were around,” Amity said in a flat voice.

“Then she should have just spoken up and said something to stop us if she didn't like it,” Boscha said as heat came into her voice.

“So you're saying that she deserved it because she couldn't speak up?” Amity hissed quietly.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” Boscha snapped, “That all happened like, a million years ago. She probably doesn't even remember it.”

“It wasn't even one year ago,” Amity pointed out.

“Yeah, and she's still here in this town working as a fucking barista instead of going off to college like we did. It's not my fault she was a loser and deserved to get treated like one,” Boscha said.

“Keep your voice down,” Skara hissed.

Amity felt the thrumming of her heart as it sped up in her chest. She drew in a slow, deep breath through her nose, and tried to stave off the panic attack she felt building up inside her before it could overtake her.

“I can't do this anymore,” Amity said quietly.

“Do what? Have a freak out in the middle of a cafe?” Boscha asked.

“No, I can't just sit here and pretend that everything is fine when you can just say stuff like that,” Amity said, “I'll find my own ride home. You guys should just go without me.”

Boscha's eyes narrowed.

“What the fuck happened to you Amity?” she asked, “You were always the one pushing the team hardest to get ready for our games and telling us over and over again that we shouldn't ever show any weakness on the field, and now you're soft as a pillow.”

“I don't want to be kind of person that I was when you knew me anymore,” Amity said.

“Well, that person was my friend – I don't know what the hell you are now,” Boscha said.

Amity watched as Boscha jerked out from her chair and then turned to Skara.

“I'm going to be in the car – bring me my drink when it comes out and we can leave princess Blight here to herself. She's apparently too good to hang out with us now anyway,” Boscha said.

She stalked out of the cafe, shoving the door roughly on her way out and left Skara and Amity seated together at the table.

They sat in silence until the drinks arrived, and Skara picked up the two belonging to herself and Boscha.

“Look,” Skara began, “I'm sorry it all went down like this.”

“Yeah,” Amity said.

“I know Boscha can be mean and thoughtless... and a lot of other things too,” Skara said, “But she also kept in touch with me. Talked with me. Even drove out to see a show my band was in once. Maybe she's not the nicest person, but she's been a good friend to me.”

Amity nodded.

“I'm sorry I wasn't a better one,” she said.

“Me too,” Skara said and then she shrugged and shot Amity a small half smile, “Who knows though, maybe it'll all work out and we can hang out again sometime?”

“Maybe,” Amity said.

As Skara walked away Amity felt her eyes grow hot.

 _A minute ago I thought I never wanted to see her or Boscha again for the rest of my life and now I feel like I'm going to cry because they're gone,_ Amity thought.

_Maybe I really have gone too soft._

Amity pulled out her phone and sent a text to Ed and Em asking if one of them could pick her up. As she waited for their reply she turned back to the counter and saw the barista was shooting curious glances her way in between taking orders.

She drummed her fingers on the table and her stomach twisted itself into knots as she debated her next course of action with herself. Amity clenched her hands into tight fists once she came to her decision and then she walked up to the counter once again.

The rush of customers had died down and the barista was eyeing Amity warily as she approached.

“You remember me, right?” Amity asked.

The barista looked even warier than before, but nodded.

“Yeah,” she said in a shaky but somewhat defiant voice, “I do.”

Amity felt a lump start to grow in her throat, but she swallowed it down and forced herself to push on.

“I know that just saying this won't undo anything,” Amity said in a nervous rush, “but I wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything we did to you back in school. Nothing could justify how I acted, and you didn't deserve any of it.”

The barista stared back intently and Amity forced herself to not drop her eyes, waiting for whatever response she would have.

“Is that what you guys were fighting about?” she asked.

“Yeah – sorry if we got kind of loud earlier,” Amity said.

The barista shrugged.

“We've had worse in here. Last week I saw a really messy break up – a guy barely avoided getting a hot coffee thrown straight into his face,” she said.

“That sounds pretty bad, yeah,” Amity agreed.

There was a pause and the silence stretched on for what felt like an unbearably long time to Amity.

“Thank you,” the barista said at last, “For the apology I mean.”

“It's the least that I could do,” Amity said.

“I don't know if you're expecting me to forgive you – honestly I don't know if I can. But thanks for saying it anyway,” she said.

Amity shook her head quickly.

“I wouldn't ask you to do that,” she said, "I'm just trying to become the kind of person that apologizes when she messes up now."

"Well, if you wanted to do a little more to make ammends...," the barista said in a voice that trailed off before she coughed discreetly and glanced down at the mostly-empty tip jar that sat on the counter between them.

For a moment, Amity was confused but then realization dawned on her. She dug around in her bag and pulled out the pair of hundred dollar bills she always kept on hand in case of an emergencies, then dropped them both into the jar.

The barista's eyes widened.

"I'd just been joking," she said.

Amity's face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Sorry... um... do you want me to take them back then?" she asked.

The barista shook her head quickly.

"No, this is fine! Maybe I can finally afford some decent Christmas gifts for people, the pay here is sh-”

She halted in mid-curse and her cadence immediately switched to customer-service-voice when the doorway behind the counter opened up and a man in a dress shirt and tie came out.

“-ockingly good, but thank you very much for the generous tip anyway ma'am, and happy holidays!"

Taking the managers arrival as her cue to leave, Amity moved back over to the table and took her first sip of her chai latte. Her face scrunched up slightly at the sharp flavor of the spices and she remembered why she never usually ordered that drink in the first place.

She hoped that one of her siblings would arrive to pick her up soon. Amity felt as though she had already exhausted all of her reserves of energy after her conversation with the barista and she desperately needed to spend some time alone again.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Life at the manor continued to grind along at the same slow pace that Amity had remembered from her childhood winter holidays after that day.

Even the long walks through the woods which she had looked forward to when she first arrived had started to lose some of their appeal. The weather had grown too cold and and the wind too sharp to be able to enjoy them for long before Amity was forced to retreat back to the house to warm herself up with a hot mug of coffee in front of the fireplace.

She did have Ed and Em for company, but there were only so many things the three siblings could do together to pass the time in the brooding old house before they started to get on each others nerves. Unlike Amity, the twins also had a very large group of friends who were in town and they were constantly being invited out to various parties. They'd asked Amity to come along with them as well so that she wouldn't be left home bored, but Amity had declined the rest of their invitations after the first party she had attended with them.

She had spent pretty much the entire event slowly sipping from a single cranberry-juice-and-vodka and leaning up against a wall once Ed and Em had gotten lost in the crowd of their old friends. It had been loud, hot and the room had been crammed full of people Amity didn't know and who she seemed to have very little in common with.

 _I'm going to have to deal with enough of that at Dad's party_ , she had thought afterwards.

She hadn't heard anything from Skara or Boscha since their disastrous meetup, but she knew that they were most likely going to be attending the party at the Manor as well since their parents worked with hers.

Despite the fact that her supposed reason for coming back to the Manor was to visit her parents, Amity found that she rarely spent any time around them at all. Her mother's work as an attorney and her father's schedule as the CEO of BlightChem kept each of them extremely busy during the day, and generally one or both of them would be absent from dinner. Even when they were around their conversation at the table largely revolved around their work or various bits of rumor and scandal surrounding the people in the wealthy circles that they ran in.

One evening, when Amity had felt especially bold, she had mentioned that her creative writing professor had liked one of the short stories which she had turned in near the end of the semester so much that he had asked if she was interesting in contributing it to an anthology the school published every year of the best student writing and art.

“That's nice dear,” her mother had said in the same sort of voice that she had used when Amity had given her a self-portrait done in crayon at the age of four.

“Maybe you'll finally get that writing obsession out of your system after you see your name in print,” her father added cheerfully, “Then you can concentrate on learning more about the company that you're going to be inheriting one day.”

Amity had stopped trying to contribute much to the family dinner conversations after that.

The only thing which had made the visit bearable so far was Luz, which Amity found ironic since she was off in a completely different state and visiting her own family at the time.

When Luz had first suggested her idea for late night movie dates Amity had been a little skeptical, but they had grown to be the part of the day that Amity looked forward to most.

They had still been messaging each other frequently throughout the day before that, but there was just something special about the movie viewings that made Amity feel happy and peaceful. Perhaps it was the fact that even though they were hundreds of miles apart they were still able to see the same sights together at the same time, and laugh and talk together over the voice chat while the movie played on the screen of Amity's laptop.

At times Amity had even felt so close to Luz during the viewings that she had been surprised when she had turned and found herself alone in her old bedroom instead of sitting beside her girlfriend up in the attic of Eda's apartment.

Luz always picked the movies since she ran the channel, and Amity had been a bit confused about her girlfriends choice to almost exclusively stream animated films. Her father and mother hadn't approved of cartoons and had never taken her to see any in the theaters when she was a child. Amity couldn't deny that she was curious about watching them to see what she had been missing out on, but she could practically hear her parents calling her frivolous and childish in the back of her mind at the thought.

“I don't know Luz, aren't we a little old for things like this?” Amity had asked when Luz had first suggested some old Disney film about a rabbit that wanted to join the police.

“What, too old for fun? This movie is a blast,” Luz said.

“I thought you didn't like the police?” Amity asked.

“Real cops suck, yeah, but it's fine if they're cartoons. Plus, the movie has a pretty good message about stereotyping and stuff like that,” Luz said.

Curiosity had won out over embarrassment, and Amity hadn't regretted the experience.

They would often watch two or even three movies a night, staying up till it was so late that it was practically early. The movies themselves often served as more of a background noise while they chatted than something they viewed very intently. Most of the night would be spent sharing their thoughts about what they had gotten up to on their days apart or plans for what they'd like to do together after they returned to Bonesborough.

 _I can't wait to finally see her again_ , Amity thought to herself one night after Luz had finally wished her an extremely sleepy sounding 'good night' at 3 AM.

She sank deeper into her mattress and turned to stare up at the stars twinkling outside her window.

_It's only been a week that we've been apart but somehow it just feels so much longer._

_I wonder if Luz has been missing me like this too?_

A small twinge of insecurity flared up in Amity at the thought.

_Maybe she hasn't... Maybe I'm just feeling extra needy here at the Manor. She's off with her old friends and her Mom right now, and she seems to be having a really good time with them._

Amity shook her head and banished the negative thought.

_I'm just being paranoid. If she wasn't thinking about me at all then she probably wouldn't want to stay up till these ungodly hours every night talking with me and getting super excited to show me all those movies she loved as a kid._

_I just have to get through the party tomorrow and Christmas day and then I'm free to head back home again._

_Back to my new life and back to Luz._

_I can make it._

  
  


* * *

  
  


The box was small, only slightly larger than the palm of Amity's hand, and it had sat hidden in a pocket of Amity's suitcase for the duration of her visit. Every now and then she had pulled it out so that she could look it over, wondering what might be concealed beneath the colorful wrapping paper but she had always returned it back to its hiding place whenever the temptation to peek inside had become too great.

Amity had felt somewhat silly about waiting exactly until Christmas morning to open the present which Luz had given her, but her girlfriend had made her promise that she wouldn't open it a minute before and Amity intended to always keep any promise which she made with Luz.

She had awoken feeling tired and groggy from the party last night, but Amity smiled when she had pulled the small package out from her suitcase for the last time. She peeled the wrapping paper off carefully and revealed a small wooden box carved with a stylized design resembling an owl on the lid. Amity recognized it as one which she had caught her eye in Eda's shop during one of the times that she had visited Luz while she was at work. Apparently Luz must have noticed her interest in it and made sure to set it aside for Amity. The reddish colored wood was polished to a warm glow and felt smooth as silk under Amity's fingers.

When she opened the box up she found that it contained a small square of folded paper and three pairs of colorful earrings made from some sort of plastic-looking material. The earrings were all obviously hand made, but sculpted with care and they had a playfully exaggerated look to them. The largest pair looked like they were miniature versions of the Abomination's head about the size of the last joint of Amity's thumb. She recognized the other two pairs from the illustrated covers of the Azura books – they were the staffs used by Azura and Hecate, with small glass beads in place of the gems and crystals which topped the witches signature magical devices.

The corners of Amity's lips tugged upward in a fond smile and she unfolded the paper and saw that it was covered with a few short lines in Luz's distinctive curling handwriting accompanied by a few of her ever-present doodles.

_Amity,_

_I've re-written this note a hundred times trying to figure out the right thing to say, and I'm not sure that this will be totally right either but I am out of time since you're going to be leaving for your parents tomorrow so I need to wrap this up already before I head over to your place to give this to you._

_(Do you see what I did there? Presents? Wrap this up? Damn I'm good.)_

_Being together with you has been the most amazing experience of my life and I hope that I have made you feel even half as happy and excited and warm and loved and... well, just everything that you've made me feel. Everyday that I've spent with you has felt like a gift._

_I don't know if these little goofy earrings I made will go with any of your super classy outfits, but I hope you like them anyway._

_All of my love,_

_Luz_

_P.S. - Seriously, it's no fair writing me an entire fanfiction and just springing it on me out of nowhere at the last minute when I'd just made you some earrings out of sculpey! I was just going for something cute with my gift but you had to go and sweep my nerdy heart off its feet all over again! Next year I am so beating you at Christmas – you better be ready for it Blight!_

“Oh,” Amity said, a hitch coming into her voice as she felt her eyes grow hot.

She scrubbed the joyful tears from her face with the back of her hand and made a noise somewhere between a hiccup and a giggle as she re-read the note once more. She paused at the terrible pun and a smile spread across her face.

 _God, she can be so stupid with those awful jokes of hers_ , Amity thought to herself.

She breathed out a contented sigh as she folded the note back up and pressed it up to her chest against her heart. She closed her eyes and felt at peace as she imagined that she was holding Luz this close to her once more.

_One day I am going to marry that girl._

Amity's eyes shot open.

_Wait, did I really just think that?_

_Oh god, I did didn't I?_

She shook her head quickly.

_Calm down Amity, don't go crazy and start trying to rush things in your mind. We've only been dating a few months now._

_Still... she did say that she would beat me next Christmas so she must be thinking of us pretty long term too, right?_

Now that the thought had come into her mind though, Amity couldn't help but imagine the idea of Luz beside her one day as more than just a girlfriend. Her heart had swelled with so many warm feelings that she felt as though it would float out of her chest like a balloon at any moment.

_Well, even if it does happen one day far in the future I know one thing for certain._

_Em is not planning my bachelorette party._

Amity grabbed the earrings with the rather adorable looking Abominations on them and slipped them on her ears. They were a bit heavier than what she was used to wearing and they looked very silly when she got a look at herself in the mirror, but at the moment she couldn't be happier.

The gift exchange with the rest of the family downstairs elicited some very different emotions for Amity.

When Emira and Edric had unwrapped Amity's gift of incredibly gaudy mittens they had each burst into fits of laughter which Amity had felt were a bit over-the-top until she unwrapped her gift from the twins and saw an identical pair staring back up at her from the bottom of the overlarge box they had packed them in.

“This is kind of like that old Christmas story with the comb and the watch chain, right?” Edric said.

“ _The Gift of the Magi_ , by O. Henry,” Amity said, “And I guess its a little bit like that, but only if every character in the story was a jerk.”

“We need a picture of this,” Emira had said, and badgered her siblings into donning their mittens with her so that they could pose for an extremely hard to take selfie.

The mittens had made it fairly difficult to get a good grip on the screen to hit the button after all.

Odalia and Alador had watched the entire scene play out in front of them with increasingly puzzled looks on their faces.

“I have no idea where you children inherited your sense of style, but I pray it did not come from me,” Odalia had said as she eyed the mittens with obvious loathing.

Her eyes moved over to Amity and she quirked an eyebrow.

“Amity, darling, what on Earth is hanging from your ears?” she asked.

The world froze as Amity considered the fact that perhaps wearing her girlfriends handmade jewelry in front of her mother had not been her brightest idea.

_What school was I a valedictorian of, clown college?_

“Just some earrings,” Amity said.

“I don't recall seeing you with a pair like that before,” Odalia said.

“Yes, they look very unique – where did you get them?” Alador asked.

Sweat began to bead on Amity's brow and she knew that it wasn't from the fireplace.

“A friend got them for me – just a little joke gift,” she said.

“Oh – was it Boscha or Skara? They seemed a bit put out with you at the party last night,” Odalia asked.

“It was a friend I made at Hexside,” Amity said quickly, “She was in my creative writing class.”

Odalia looked like she was going to probe further but Alador held up a hand to interrupt her.

“Actually, that reminds of something – your mother and I have been needing to have a talk with you. Go up to my study, we'll be there to see you shortly,” he said.

“Is everything okay?” Emira asked when she caught the deer-in-the-headlights look in her sisters eye.

“Yes darling, but it's a private matter between Amity and ourselves,” Odalia said.

“Nothing that concerns you or your brother, Emira,” Alador said in a firm voice.

Emira and Edric looked like they wanted to say more but Amity cut them off with a quick shake of her head.

 _I knew this was coming eventually... there's no need for them to get in trouble too_ , Amity thought to herself as she headed off toward the wing of the house where her father's private offices were located.

She paused outside of the heavy looking door and felt a surge of nausea rise up in her chest as memories overwhelmed her.

Amity had only been in this room a handful of times in her life – generally only on the rare occasions where she had been outright disobedient and her parents wanted a private place to scold her where they couldn't be overheard by the staff of the Manor.

This was the room where they had commanded her to sever all ties with her childhood best friend while she had sat huddled in the large chair, trying to hold back her tears.

Amity grit her teeth, threw the door open and then sat down heavily in one of the thickly padded chairs arranged around the small coffee table at the center of the room. She pulled her phone out from her pocket and debated whether or not to message Luz, but decided to hold off on doing so.

A little moral support would have been good, but she knew that Luz must have been enjoying a much less nerve-wracking Christmas morning with her mother and Amity had no desire to ruin it for her.

She pulled up the apps she had available on the phone to try and find something to distract her mind until her parents arrived. If the pattern held true they might sometimes make her wait an hour or more before they showed up, giving her time to properly work herself into a nervous wreck before they even had to say a thing to her.

To Amity's surprise she heard footsteps outside of the door not long after she had sat down. She glanced down at the phone once more and spotted a familiar app and an idea came to her.

A terrible idea.

An insane idea.

The doorknob began to turn and Amity tapped the screen of her phone and then slipped it back into her pocket while her heart hammered away in her chest like a piece of out of control machinery.

Alador and Odalia entered and shut the door behind them with a click that sounded gunshot-loud in the silence of the room, and then took their seats at the table. Amity did her best to school her face into a mask of blank calm.

A Blight must never show weakness, after all.

“I suspect you already know why we wanted to speak with you today?” Alador asked.

Amity tried her best to quiet the beating of her heart and twisted her face into a puzzled expression.

“Not really,” she said, “Is something wrong father?”

“Amity, please don't pretend that we're stupid,” Odalia said with a sigh, “It demeans all of us. You know that we need to talk about your relationship with that girl you're seeing at Hexside.”

“Yes, Luce... or was it Luhz? The reports we received from the investigator were all in the form of text and photos so I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to pronounce her name,” Alador said.

Amity felt a throbbing in her temples that felt somewhere between the slow build up of a headache mixed with a surge of pure white hot anger.

“It's Luz,” she said, “Also, what investigator are you talking about?”

“The one we sent to check up on you of course,” Alador said, “Do you really think that we would send the daughter who we chose to be the successor to the family fortune as well as the future head of our company off on her own completely unsupervised?”

“All parents worry about their children, and we wanted to be extra sure that you were safe and steering clear of any situations that could cause trouble for your future or lead to scandals for the family,” Odalia said, “And frankly, dear, we aren't sure that your relationship with this girl is a wise decision.”

All of the anger that had been burning in Amity's mind suddenly seemed to crystallize at that statement into something sharp and cold.

“I wish I could say that I'm surprised that you would violate my privacy like that, but I'm really not,” she said in a frigid tone, “and frankly, mom and dad, I'm not sure if my relationship with Luz is any of your god damned business.”

“Amity! Language,” Odalia snapped.

Alador held up a calming hand.

“Now Odalia, Amity is an adult now – she's allowed the occasional curse,” he said,”And Amity, the fact is that this very much is, as you put it, our god damned business.”

“What possible reason could you have to object to Luz? If your investigator is any good then they'd already know that she's been nothing but a positive influence in my life. You can't even say that she's a distraction for me – I have a 4.0 average in my classes,” Amity said.

“I'm sure that Luz is a lovely girl, she's obviously very bright since she's attending the school on scholarship, but her past history is _troubling_ ,” Alador said, “She had a number of disciplinary issues in school that lead to questions about her mental stability – so many that she was actually sent to a special camp to help her reconnect with reality. Were you aware of that?”

Amity curled her lip in disgust at the obvious attempt to badmouth Luz with what her father probably thought of as a shameful secret.

“Yes, Luz told me about that place – and to me it sounded like if people had just taken more time to understand her instead of judge her that she would never have ended up there,” Amity said.

“Oh Amity, this girl clearly has you wrapped around her little finger,” Odalia said in a sympathetic tone.

“Leaving aside her past,” Alador continued, “There is also the fact that she currently associates with a woman who has an extensive criminal history. Can you imagine how that would play out if it was leaked to the tabloids? We wouldn't be able to give away BlightChem stock much less sell it to new investors.”

“A relationship like this will only cause problems for you in the long run dear,” Odalia said, “She wouldn't have any place here in our social circle when you were finished with school and returned home.”

“Well, if that's the problem then maybe I just shouldn't return home again,” Amity snapped.

Odalia and Alador stiffened in their seats.

“Amity,” Alador said in a dangerously quiet voice, “Think very carefully about what you are saying. Everything that you have now comes from us. The tuition to your school, the rent for your apartment, the car you drive, the food you eat and the clothes you wear all come from the family that you just threatened to turn your back on.”

“And you'd throw away all of that as well as your entire future for what – a relationship with a girl that you've known for a few months? You're an intelligent young woman Amity so you must know that is a terrible trade,” Odalia said.

“We're not even asking you to break up with her immediately,” Alador said, “It's fine to enjoy yourself for now, but you mustn't let it get too serious.”

“Yes, try not to let it go on longer than the end of the next semester if you can. It's better to end things quickly than let it linger,” Odalia said.

“I can't believe you two,” Amity said as her voice rose up in anger, “Who would do something like this to their own child? Do you just enjoy making me miserable? Is that why did you decided to have this conversation with me on fucking Christmas of all days? I've been here a whole week! You could have told me any time!”

“Well, if we told you earlier then it could have made the party awkward – you might have tried to cause a scene,” Odalia said.

“Yes, we had a number of important guests if you recall,” Alador added.

Amity stared back at them.

“First my birthday and now Christmas,” she said, “What are you going to do next, buy me a pony on the Fourth of July and then force me to shoot it?”

“We aren't trying to be cruel dear,” Odalia said, “We know that obviously this must be very upsetting for you – but can't you see that it's also for the best? Both for you and for Luz.”

Amity felt a chill drip down her spine at those words.

“What do you mean that it would be best for Luz?” she asked.

Alador sighed.

“We don't enjoy playing the villains in these little melodramas of yours Amity, but you often leave us with no choice. If you choose to disobey us and do not end your relationship by the end of the next semester then we will have to take steps. Ms. Noceda's scholarship has some very specific requirements to it – including conditions that could lead to it being revoked,” he said.

“For instance, if she is proven to have cheated or committed plagiarism then her scholarship would no longer be valid, and there would be no way that she would be able to attend the college of her dreams on her single mother's income,” Odalia said.

“Luz would never cheat or plagiarize from anyone, so if that's your threat then you've got nothing,” Amity shot back defiantly.

“It's not something that would be difficult for a person in the right position to fake though,” Alador said, “Do you know how little they pay professors these days? It's shameful. It wouldn't be nearly as expensive as bribing a senator to get Luz thrown out of Hexside, and then she would lose everything she's worked for.”

“You wouldn't really want to destroy this poor girls future just because you were too selfish to let her go for her own good, would you dear?” Odalia asked.

Amity was silent, but she felt like she had just been punched straight in the gut.

“Can I take some time to think about this?” Amity asked quietly, “I'd like to leave tonight and go back to Bonesborough if I may. I'm just suddenly not feeling very at home here.”

Alador nodded.

“Of course, Amity,” he said, “Take all the time you need.”

“Just be sure that you come to the right decision,” Odalia said, “For both of your sakes.”

Amity trudged toward the door and reached for the knob but stopped.

She turned to face her parents again.

“Why are you doing this to me? Is this really all just about protecting the company? The money?” she asked.

“No dear,” Odalia said, “We're doing this because we love you.”

“The hardest part of being a parent is knowing that sometimes you must hurt your child for their own good,” Alador said, “The same way that a baby cries when they get their first shots. They don't understand why their parents would betray them like that, but it saves them from so much more pain in the long run.”

“One day you'll see that we were right dear,” Odalia said, “When you're living here in the manor with your own children and a wife who is much more suitable for you.”

Amity couldn't think of a word to say that would make anything she had just heard better, so she closed the door behind her and then walked slowly back to her room on the opposite wing of the house.

She bolted the door to her room the second she walked in and then pulled her phone out of her pocket.

The voice recording app which she had turned on just before her parents had entered the room to speak with her was still running. She ended the recording, turned the volume down on the phone and played the recording back from the beginning.

Her parents voices sounded as clear as crystal, even with the fact that microphone on the phone had been stuffed into her pocket at the time. She felt a strange manic urge to laugh at the fact that if her parents hadn't bought her a brand new iScroll 5 phone with it's high quality features that she probably wouldn't have been able to catch them like this.

Amity had originally only used the app for recording her professors lectures in class in order to go back over them when studying for tests, but the alternate use for it had come to her in a flash when she had remembered something similar happening in one of the movies that Luz had shown her.

Amity quickly renamed the audio file and made a backup copy which she emailed to herself for safe keeping in case her phone was lost or destroyed.

 _I need to make sure that they can't get rid of this... as long as I have evidence of them threatening to ruin Luz's reputation at school then there would no way that they could try and get Luz thrown out of Hexside_ , she thought.

_I think I know who it would be safest with too._

She opened up her texts and began to type.

 **Me** : So this is going to sound weird but bear with me.

 **Me** : I'm going to send you a file and I need you to not open it, but keep it somewhere safe.

 **Me** : Make a few backups if you can too.

 **Luz** : Well that's cryptic.

 **Me** : I'll explain more later.

 **Me** : Oh - merry Chrismtas by the way! I loved the earrings.

 **Luz** : I'm glad you did. I wasn't sure they'd be your style.

 **Me** : I don't know if they are either, but I'm wearing them anyway.

 **Luz** : Are you sure you don't want to give me a few hints about the spy movie situation that I've suddenly found myself in?

 **Luz** : Should I be on the lookout for mysterious guys in dark suits and eyepatches?

 **Luz** : Did you send me the launch codes to something?

Amity stared at Luz's text and drummed her fingers against her thigh.

_Should I just tell her now?_

_No, I really think it would be better if I was there when she heard it for the first time... I need her to know that she's safe and everything's okay._

_Anything I could tell her about it now might just worry her more._

**Me** : I promise I'll tell you everything when we're back home so that I can do it in person.

 **Me** : Just trust me that you aren't in any danger.

 **Luz** : Okay, I trust you.

 **Me** : Thank you.

 **Me** : I'm probably going to be leaving for Bonesborough later today. When are you getting back?

 **Luz** : I was thinking of going back tomorrow or the day after.

 **Me** : I can't wait to see you again.

 **Luz** : Me too.

 **Luz** : We should have a little New Years party together when we're home!

 **Me** : I like the sound of that. It should be much nicer than the one I was at last night.

 **Me** : Okay, I've got to go for now. I have something important to take care of before I leave.

 **Me** : Wish me luck.

 **Luz** : Good luck!

 **Me** : I love you.

 **Luz** : Love you too.

Amity took a deep breath and then sent a quick message to her siblings to join her in her room as soon as they could.

Edric and Emira were absolutely furious when Amity told them about what had just happened when they had come up to join her a few minutes later.

“That is a whole new level of fucked up,” Edric had said, “Even for this family.”

“Yeah, I'm so sorry you had to deal with that Amity,” Emira said.

“It's fine... well, no it's not fine, it's completely fucking awful,” Amity said, “But that's not why I called you two.”

“What did you need us for then?” Edric asked.

“Just say the word and we'll do everything we can to help,” Emira added.

“I don't know what to do next,” Amity said, “I mean, I have a recording of mom and dad threatening to have my girlfriend expelled from school on phony charges if we don't break up, and that definitely has to be illegal but I don't know what to do with it. Do I show it to them and tell them to back off? Do I go straight to the cops? Can the cops even do anything about it? Plus, mom's a lawyer so she probably knows a million ways out if I did try to use it against them. I have no plan here and it is freaking me the fuck out!”

Edric and Emira looked at each other and then back at their sister.

“Well, this isn't exactly in our wheelhouse,” Edric said.

“Yeah,” Emira said, “We're all for shenanigans but this is kind of heavy.”

“Tell me about it,” Amity said, “I've felt like throwing up for like, an hour now.”

“I think,” Edric said, “That you shouldn't show it to mom and dad or to the cops yet.”

“Why's that?” Amity asked.

“Well,” Edric said, “That would probably feel pretty good to do and make you feel like a big hero for protecting Luz... but the person that is being threatened most here is Luz herself. You need to let Luz decide how she wants to handle the situation.”

“Oh damn,” Emira said with an impressed nod, “That's really good thinking there Ed.”

Amity nodded along.

“Okay,” Amity said, “I'll leave it up to Luz. Honestly, I can't imagine that she _wouldn't_ want to break up with me after hearing this. Why would she take the risk of losing everything just by being around me?”

“Hey,” Emira said, “None of this is your fault. Even if Luz does want to leave to protect herself you are still doing the right thing here.”

“Yeah,” Edric said, “Plus from what little I saw of her she doesn't seem like someone that would be scared off easily.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering why there was no scene set at the Christmas Eve party despite the fact that it gets brought up so many times I wanted to explain.
> 
> To Amity, the party doesn't matter at all. 
> 
> For her it's just an annual obligation that she puts up with: she wears the clothes her mom picks, talks politely to her dads rich friends and tries not to wince when her parents bring up her accomplishments in front of their guests like she is a pet that can perform a number of amusing tricks. It's all standard stuff, she could do the whole thing on autopilot.
> 
> I wanted to focus the chapter on the stuff that was actually emotionally significant for Amity from her point of view instead.
> 
> Anyway enough about that.
> 
> I'm hoping that people who have been reading the story are interested in the direction the story has taken as we enter the final two chapters.
> 
> Feedback, as always, is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some. Reading the comments on the other chapters I posted was a huge source of motivation for me, so thank you to everyone that has left one in the past and to everyone who will leave one in the future.
> 
> Thanks for reading this monstrously huge chapter all the way to the end!


	11. Chapter 11

The Bonesborough airport was relatively small, but bustling with travelers returning from their holiday trips. Luz noticed that a great many of the people in the milling crowd moving through the building were close to her in age, most likely her fellow Hexside undergrads who had just come back from visiting family out of state like herself.

The mood in the building was the same one found in almost any airport - a mix of fatigue, impatience and a sense of quiet relief from the returning passengers at being back on solid ground once more. The air was thick with the low chatter of people talking and the crackling electronic voices of the messages broadcast over the intercom system.

Luz's own mood, on the other hand, was a much brighter one because she had just spotted Amity glancing around at the crowd with an impatient look in her eyes. Somehow, Amity hadn't seemed to have noticed Luz yet despite the extremely distinctive combination of her googly-eyed hat and the neon-colored scarf Eda had made which lay draped over her shoulders like a stole.

Luz moved through the press of the crowd around her, leaving a trail of _Sorry's_ and _Excuse-Me's_ in her wake for the people that she had squeezed between and maneuvered her way around in her rush forward. When she finally emerged from the group Luz found herself standing directly in front of Amity in their own little island of relative calm. A smile spread wide across Luz's face and she felt a lightning rush of anticipation spark through her chest when Amity looked up at her with a matching smile of her own.

_She's wearing them!_ , Luz thought to herself, feeling unexpectedly thrilled to see that Amity had a pair of small polymer clay Abomination heads dangling from her earlobes.

"Hey," Luz said in a hushed voice.

"Hi," Amity returned in an equally quiet tone.

A feeling of rising excitement was boiling up in Luz's veins at finally being face to face with her girlfriend again after she had spent days thinking about their reunion, but she did her best to tamp it down to a more reasonable level.

_Calm down Luz, don't freak Amity out by going overboard_ , she warned herself.

_We've just been apart from each other for a little bit over the Christmas break. It's not like I've just come home from The War or something._

_I've got to play it cool._

Common sense, Luz thought to herself later, would have been to give Amity a quick hug and maybe a brief kiss on the cheek and then get out of the busy airport as fast as possible to try and beat the traffic.

Luz's natural instincts tended to deviate pretty far from common sense at the best of times though, so instead she had folded Amity up in her arms, lifted her off her feet which forced a startled squeak out from Amity's lips and then spun about on her heels with a laugh of pure unrestrained joy.

Thankfully the older gentleman who had been hit by Amity's shoe after it had flown off of her foot mid-swing seemed to take the situation in stride and even wished the both of them a happy New Year after Luz had rushed over to him to apologize (and to retrieve the shoe).

Amity had stood waiting with crossed arms for Luz, tapping her unshod foot on the floor while the man assured Luz that this wasn't the first time he'd been hit by a flying shoe in an airport and he doubted if it would be the last. The bizarre nature of that sentence almost made Luz want to stop and learn more, but this time her common sense won out and she let him go on his way to return the wayward shoe to Amity.

"So I'm guessing that you're happy to see me?" Amity had asked in a dry tone after she had slipped her shoe back on.

Luz felt her face flush beet-red and she gave Amity a sheepish smile.

"Yeah," she said, "Sorry about that... I didn't mean to cause a big sce-"

Luz was interrupted mid-sentence when Amity wrapped her arms around Luz's neck and then pulled her head down for an enthusiastically warm kiss that left Luz feeling like she was about to melt down into a puddle of pure bliss right on the spot.

The kiss had been a surprise since Amity always tended to be a little shy about big public displays of affection, but Luz didn't stop to question it when it had felt so good to finally have Amity's lips pressed up against her own once again.

When they broke the kiss at last Luz was left in a happy daze - and she was sure that whatever expression she must have had on her face looked ridiculous judging by Amity's answering look of amusement.

"I'm really happy to see you again too," Amity said.

Luz had to give her head a quick shake to re-orient herself back to reality once more, and she took Amity's hand so that her girlfriend could lead her out to where she had parked her car.

Luz sent Eda a quick text to let her know that she was on the way home and then settled into the car beside Amity. A soft sigh of contentment blew out from her lips when the vehicle's heater kicked in and warmed the unpleasant chill out of the tip of her nose and ears.

"Did you have a good trip?" Amity asked.

"I did," Luz replied, "It was nice to see my mom again - and Willow and Gus too for that matter. I really need to introduce you guys to each other, I think you'd get along with them."

A small hint of a smile twitched up at the corner of Amity's lips.

"That sounds like it would be nice," she said, "Hopefully they'd like me."

"Of course they are going to like you," Luz said with a quick wave of her hand, "You're basically perfect."

"I wouldn't go that far," Amity said.

"I would," Luz said, "I mean you're smart, funny, caring, really fun to hang out with and you have an excellent taste in girlfriends."

"Oh shut up," Amity muttered in a flustered tone.

Luz was pleased to note that Amity's cheeks had flushed a rather pretty shade of pink at the stream of compliments directed her way.

"It's really good to be home," Luz said as they merged into traffic and made their way back toward the heart of Bonesborough.

"I feel the same way," Amity replied, “I was pretty much counting the days till I could get back right from the start.”

Luz was about to ask more about Amity's own trip in return but stopped herself. She had known that her girlfriend hadn't exactly been enthusiastic about spending time back at her parents' place, and she didn't want to bring down the mood so soon by reminding her of unpleasant memories.

If Amity did feel like venting about it later, then of course Luz would listen - but right now she just wanted to bask in the happiness of being reunited.

The drive through the city was short, but the conversation on the ride was fun. Luz gave Amity an only slightly-exaggerated account of the extreme extravagance of the Porter families Christmas display (and how Gus had enlisted her help to rearrange the strings of lights on the rooftop into large crop circle patterns in the hopes of attracting a different kind of visitor from the skies on Christmas night rather than Santa Claus). Amity shared the story of how she and her siblings had given each other the exact same pair of extremely horrible mittens as presents which set Luz to laughing as she imagined the looks on all of their faces when they discovered their simultaneous prank.

"How bad could they really be though?" Luz had asked.

Amity dug her phone out from her pocket while the car idled at a red light and opened up her pictures folder.

"Behold," she said in a melodramatically ominous voice, before passing the phone over to Luz.

Luz glanced down at the screen and had to stifle another snort of laughter at the sight of the three siblings seated together on the couch and all wearing the same ridiculous gloves and matching expressions of wry amusement.

"Okay yeah, those are pretty silly," she admitted, "It looks like someone tried to make an ugly sweater for your hands and then decided that what it really needed was big wads of glitter to finish it off."

"They were just as comfortable as they are stylish too," Amity said, "I think they might have even given my brother a rash."

The streets of Bonesborough looked different when coated with a thin blanket of snow, but Luz was still able to spot the unmistakable outline of Eda's shop right away as Amity turned down her street. A warm feeling bubbled up inside Luz at the sight of her new home, and she felt an impatient energy as she waited for Amity to find a space along the street to park.

The pair had trudged through the slush covered sidewalks together and when they reached the stoop of the apartment door Luz's finger hovered over the button to the doorbell.

She glanced back at Amity with a pleading look on her face.

"Couldn't you just call her?" Amity asked with a pained wince.

Luz shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, I've just been gone for so long that I even kind of started to miss this guy here," she said while jerking her thumb toward the plastic owl head jutting out of the door.

Amity sighed.

"If it'll make you happy then," she said, and then made a ' _be-my-guest_ ' gesture toward the doorbell.

Luz smiled wide and then pressed the button.

"HOOTS THERE?" shrieked the doorbell.

The burst of unearthly noise sent a small cloud of startled birds fluttering away from their perch atop a nearby streetlight.

"Ah," Luz said in a satisfied voice, "It's exactly as awful as I remembered."

They didn't have to wait long before the door opened, revealing Eda bundled up in an extra fluffy and warm looking scarlet robe and holding an aluminum baseball bat in her hand.

"If this is another person trying to serve me papers again-," Eda began in a warning tone.

"Nope, it's just your favorite freeloader returning home," Luz said.

Eda's face split into a wide grin that exposed her gold capped canine tooth and then she stepped in close to wrap Luz up in a tight hug.

"It's good to have you back kid," Eda said, "This place was way too quiet without you around."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Luz asked, "It's not like I go marching around the hallway banging pots and pans together."

"You just have a way of filling up the room I guess," Eda answered.

Luz turned her head and noticed that Amity had been standing by shuffling her feet in the snow with a slightly awkward expression on her face while this display of semi-familial affection was taking place.

"I guess I should get going then," she said, "You're probably tired from the flight and want to rest."

"What? No way!" Luz protested, "You're already here with me now so that means you're stuck with me. One little car trip together isn't nearly enough Amity-time for me today."

"Yeah, come on up and join us for some lunch," Eda said, "I was just about to prepare the traditional celebration meal we always had in my family during a reunion."

Amity smiled back at the welcoming expressions on both Luz and Eda's faces and then nodded an assent.

"Sure, that sounds really nice," she said, "What's this traditional meal anyway?"

"Chinese takeout - I think I've got a few menus for the places nearby upstairs," Eda said.

"Ah, the old family recipe," Luz said with a grin.

She took Amity's hand in her own and led her up the stairs and out of the cold.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The apartment was a welcome sight to Luz's eyes, though parts of it had changed around since she had left on her trip. Eda had a tendency to switch up her furniture whenever she found some new pieces that she considered too nice to sell off in the shop or when she felt like pulling an old piece that hadn't seen use in some time out from one of the spare rooms in the apartment that were used as dedicated storage space.

The most notable new addition was a tall floor lamp with a shade of pink glass that was sculpted to resemble an abstract lotus flower which cast a warm light around the room. Luz felt as though the last of the winter chill clinging to her skin had melted away just from looking at it.

A heavy rumbling sound drew Luz's attention down toward the floor and she saw that King had sauntered over from his normal perch atop Eda's favorite chair and started rubbing himself up against her ankles while purring loudly. Luz's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she turned to Amity and pointed down at the cat.

“This is the most affection I've ever gotten out of this little guy when I didn't have a can of food in my hand,” she said.

“I guess he must have missed you too,” Amity said.

“That or he's trying to lull me into a false sense of security so that he can finish me off later in my sleep,” Luz said.

Amity laughed, and Luz decided to laugh along rather than reveal that she had only been half-joking.

The discussion about which restaurant to order from was quick and soon Luz was poring over the menu with Amity in order to pick out their meals. As Eda dialed up the restaurant to place their orders Amity had offered, again, to cover the cost of her own meal but Eda cut her off with a decisive slash of her hand.

"No guest of mine ever pays for her own food in my house," Eda declared in a voice that brooked no argument.

As Eda was rattling off the long list of items that were being ordered to the person taking the order on the phone, Luz felt a tug on her sleeve and saw that Amity was giving her a nervous sort of look.

"Would you need any help getting your bags up to your room?" she asked.

Luz cocked her head in confusion.

"Well, they aren't too heavy and there aren't many of them either," she replied, "I could probably take care of it myself later."

"Yes, but it might go by faster with _my_ help," Amity said again in a more insistent tone.

Realization dawned on Luz.

"Ah," she said, "Yes, that would be very helpful - thank you Amity."

The pair gathered up Luz's luggage and hauled it toward the stairs leading to the attic bedroom while Eda was giving the restaurant the directions for delivery.

Luz could just make out the last words of the call as she and Amity disappeared up the stairway.

"Remember to tell the driver not to freak out when the door screams at them this time - the last guy you sent over spilled my lo mein," Eda had said.

Once Luz and Amity were alone up in Luz's bedroom. Amity locked the door behind her with a sharp click and glanced around the room with a paranoid look on her face.

"Is everything okay Amity?" Luz asked in a concerned voice.

Amity gnawed on her lower lip in a nervous way and her eyes darted back toward the door.

"How soundproof is this room?" she asked Luz.

Luz felt her face flush flaming red and her heart instantly speed up into overdrive at the question.

_Oh wow. I guess she must have missed me a lot more than she let on_ , she thought.

"Oh my... I mean, it's _kind of_ soundproof I guess but I'm not sure that we should be doing this right now," Luz stammered out, "Not that I don't want to! I mean, I do - a whole lot if I'm being totally honest here... but maybe your place might be bett-"

Amity stared at Luz with blank incomprehension as she babbled on before her own face went completely red and she made a hasty interruption.

"No you doofus! Sorry... sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you... I just meant that I wasn't asking for _that_ reason," she said.

Luz's mind went through a lightning quick roil of emotions which alternated between embarrassment, relief and an unexpectedly large degree of disappointment.

_So I guess it was only me who had her mind in the gutter right now then?_

_Well, that's mortifying._

"Ah," Luz said, "Then, what would the actual reason be?"

Amity's face twisted up like she'd just tasted something extremely sour.

"Do you still have that audio file that I sent you at Christmas on your phone?" she asked.

Luz snapped her fingers in recognition.

"Oh right! That crazy secret spy-thing," she said, "Yeah, of course. I even backed it up a few places online too, like you had asked me to. Is that what this is about?"

"Yeah," Amity said in a quiet voice, "I... I didn't want you to listen to it until you were back here with me so that I could explain everything... and I also didn't want to freak you out and ruin the rest of your trip."

"What's going on Amity?" Luz asked, "Is everything okay?"

An unpleasant feeling of dread zinged its way through Luz's nerves at the sight of Amity flinching at the question.

"No, it's not," Amity said with a shake of her head, "But putting this off won't make it any better. Could you play the file right now?"

_Is she breaking up with me?,_ Luz thought with a sudden rush of irrational panic.

_No, that wouldn't make any sense... She kissed me at the airport and just ordered lunch to share with me and Eda, there's no way anyone would break up right after doing that. It would be a super awkward meal._

_Or at least if she is dumping me then this has to be the weirdest way to do it that I've ever heard of._

_Maybe it's a rich person thing?_

Luz pulled her phone out from the pocket of her jacket and scrolled through her download screen until she found the audio file labeled 'Homework' and then tapped on the icon to open it.

She turned the volume up on her phone's speaker and then glanced over at Amity when she heard an unknown man's voice. His words were precise and sharp, and his tone seemed arrogant to Luz. It sounded like a voice that was not only accustomed to obedience, but which found the very idea of disobedience a ridiculous impossibility.

"Who's that guy?" Luz whispered.

"My dad - and the woman who just spoke is my mom," Amity said.

"Ah okay," Luz said, feeling more confused than ever.

She turned her attention back to the recording and was startled when she heard Amity's father mispronouncing Luz's name.

What she heard next startled her even more.

_An investigator? Amity's parents had a detective following her around and spying on her?,_ Luz thought.

_On both of us?_

Her stomach lurched at the thought.

Luz felt a flicker of warmth in her chest when she heard Amity's own voice in the recording snapping back at her parents to defend herself and Luz from their attacks and telling them to mind their business.

_You tell 'em Amity!_ , Luz thought with a fierce surge of pride in her girlfriend.

Whenever Amity had spoken to Luz about her parents before it was often in a joking way about how rigid and controlling they were, but even then there had been a hesitation in her voice. As if speaking up against them was unthinkable.

The fact that she had, and forcefully at that, seemed like it must have taken an enormous mental effort on her part.

That brief flash of light was snuffed out when Amity's father spoke again and mentioned Luz's stay at Camp Reality check with obvious disdain in his voice.

_Holy shit... their detective wasn't just spying on us... they were actually digging into my past too._

The nausea she had felt at the thought of some creep following her and Amity around was joined by a growing rage at the depth of that violation of her privacy.

She caught the voice of Amity's mother speaking in tones that alternated between syrupy sweet and acidic explaining why it would be best for Amity to end her relationship with Luz now, for both of their sakes.

Luz's heart began to hammer in her chest when Amity's father laid down his ultimatum about removing Amity's financial support – and the threat to find a way to get Luz's scholarship revoked if Amity refused to break up with Luz.

She sat down heavily on her bed, unable to believe the words that she was hearing.

Amity's mother spoke again and her honey-sweet tones were like sandpaper against Luz's ears as she tried to convince Amity that it would be selfish of her to stay with Luz and destroy her future... as if it were somehow Amity's fault that this was all happening and not their own malice that was threatening everything Luz had worked for.

“Why are you doing this to me? Is this really all just about protecting the company? The money?” Amity's voice said from the speaker of the phone.

Luz's heart broke when she heard all of the unshed tears lurking behind those words.

After Amity's parents answered with some particularly disgusting garbage about needing to hurt the ones they love to make them stronger the recording ended.

Luz sat in silence for a few heartbeats, looking down at the phone in her hand and tried to process everything she just heard. It was all too much, too strange... a few minutes ago she was ordering Chinese takeout in the living room with two of her favorite people in the world and now this recording had dropped into her life like a bomb falling out of the sky.

Luz carefully set her phone down on the bed, took a deep breath and then rose to her feet.

The next few minutes were something of a blur for Luz as she paced back and forth across the short length of her bedroom floor cursing furiously and extravagantly in two languages (peppered with a few swears in fictional languages which she vaguely remembered from fantasy novels), accompanied by a variety of mostly obscene hand gestures and the occasional wordless exclamation of pure fury.

She blew out a deep breath once she had exhausted the limits of her extensive vocabulary and was surprised to find that she did feel just a little bit better after letting some of that pent up anger out of her system. Luz turned and saw Amity standing off to the side with an extremely worried look on her face.

“Luz?” Amity asked in a quiet voice, one hand half reaching out toward her in a hesitant way.

As if she were terrified that Luz would reject her touch.

_My god_ , Luz thought.

_I've just heard these people talk to her for a few minutes and I'm both more pissed off and frustrated and scared than I've almost ever been before... and Amity has had to deal with them all of her life_.

Luz stepped over toward Amity, who stood rigidly in place with her features locked in a carefully neutral expression.

_She doesn't know what I'm going to do,_ Luz realized.

_She's probably been worried sick for days about how I was going to react when I heard it and now she just saw me ranting and raving like a maniac and that's probably not helping her feel any better._

Without another word Luz threw her arms around Amity's shoulders and pulled her into a gentle hug.

“This must have been so hard for you,” Luz said as she squeezed Amity against her.

Whatever Amity had been expecting, it hadn't seemed to be this. She returned the hug hesitantly at first, and Luz could feel a tremor run through her body once her arms finally tightened around Luz's torso.

“You aren't mad at me for getting you involved in this?” she asked.

“No, I'm not,” Luz assured her, “You didn't do anything wrong.”

“Okay,” Amity said quietly.

“Please don't take this the wrong way though,” Luz said, “but I do think that I _might_ hate your parents.”

Amity made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob and buried her face into Luz's shoulder.

“That's okay,” Amity said in a muffled voice, “I'm not exactly their biggest fan right now either.”

They held each other close for a while, just leaning against one another for support. After some time had passed they stepped apart and Luz led Amity over toward the bed and pulled her down to sit beside her on the edge of the mattress.

“I can see why you thought it was a good idea for me to not play that recording during Christmas time,” Luz said.

Amity nodded in agreement.

“Yeah,” she said, “And there's more... I wanted to show it to you now because... I want you to be the one who decides what we should do with this.”

“What do you mean?” Luz asked.

“Well, you're the person that's being threatened here,” Amity said, “So whatever happens... I want you to have the power to make the decision for how to deal with this situation. If you want to take this recording to the police or the media or anyone else that you think can help then I'll support you. Or if you... if you think it would be safer just to break up with me I wouldn't blame you either – this wouldn't even be happening to you if it weren't for me.”

Amity had started off strong but Luz could hear the cracks forming in her words until her voice finally broke near the end of the sentence. The words of Amity's mother replayed in Luz's head – the way that she had laid the blame for it all on her own daughter.

Luz took Amity's hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Amity – none of this is your fault,” Luz said in a fierce voice, “I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to. I've had to deal with enough bullies in my life when I was growing up and I'm never going to let one push me around again.”

Luz reached out with her other hand and tilted Amity's chin up to face her. Her amber eyes were wet and there was a vulnerability on her expression that Luz only saw rarely beneath her usually cool facade.

“I'm not going to let anyone push you around either,” she said, “Not if you also want to stay with me. I know you must be scared too considering how your dad threatened to cut you off.”

Amity's eyes narrowed and she shook her head quickly.

“Fuck the money,” she said, “If it was just about that then I wouldn't care... I just don't want them to try and use your future at this school like a hostage.”

Luz squeezed Amity's hand again and then leaned in to plant a quick kiss on her lips. It was slow and gentle, and Luz felt some of the tension that had started to knot up in her shoulders begin to unravel when she felt Amity kiss her back without hesitation.

“We're going to get through this together,” Luz said after their lips had drifted apart, “I promise.”

Amity nodded gently.

“Okay,” she said, “I trust you.”

Luz felt pride at those words, but at the same time they weighed heavily on her mind. Amity was giving her control of the situation, but that also meant that the consequences of whatever came next, both good and bad, would all stem from whatever she chose to do.

_I just have to make sure that I make the right choices then I guess_ , she thought to herself.

A quick tingle of panic ran up Luz's spine at the thought.

_Let's just ignore my track record with making good choices for the moment and try and think positively instead._

“I think,” Luz said after a few moments of careful consideration, “that we should maybe consult someone about this. If you don't mind bringing another person into the decision making that is?”

“Who do you have in mind?” Amity asked.

“Well, this is all pretty serious stuff – I mean, there's private detectives spying on us, shady threats and blackmail going on and I don't really know anything about that kind of world. We need to talk to a real expert in the dark and seedy side of life to see what our options are here,” Luz said.

“Where are we supposed to find someone like that?” Amity asked.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Eda nodded her head as the recording finished playing.

“You were right to bring this to my attention,” she said to Luz.

It had been nearly an hour since Luz had first heard the recording, and the three women were now seated around the glass topped table of the apartments kitchen with a small collection of mostly-empty takeout cartons decorated with stylized dragon logos scattered between them.

When Luz and Amity had come downstairs and told Eda that they had a serious matter to discuss she insisted that they wait until after they all finished eating the lunch which had just arrived.

“No matter how bad a situation may be, it doesn't feel quite as bad if you've got a full stomach,” Eda had said, “You have to take care of the body's needs too or else you'll just add hunger to the mix and make everything feel worse.”

As strange and dire as the whole situation was, Luz had to admit that it was good advice. A few helpings of almond chicken may not have solved her problems, but they did wonders for helping with her mood.

Eda was silent now, and her face was locked in a pensive expression as she pondered the recording.

“Well... what do you think we should do?” Luz asked after the tension of her silence had become unbearable.

Eda leaned her head back in her chair with her eyes closed and hummed to herself for a few moments more, then her eyes snapped open and she pointed a sharp fingernail over at Amity.

“First things first,” Eda said, “I need to ask you _why_ you'd go against your family and bring this to us. Is this just your way of getting back at Mommy and Daddy for being crappy parents?”

Luz saw Amity bristle and sit up straighter in her chair.

“No, it's because it's the _right_ thing to do,” Amity said, “It was one thing when they were just telling me what classes they wanted me to take or being bossy about my future career – but the second they dragged Luz into this and threatened her scholarship just to get to me... like what could happen to her didn't even matter except for how it could be used to control me... that's just plain wrong, and family or not they need to be stopped before they can do anything like that to an innocent person.”

Eda grinned wide, revealing a flash of her gold tooth once more.

“I knew there was a reason that I liked you right off the bat kid,” Eda said with an approving nod of her head, “Alright, you have my permission to marry Luz.”

Luz shot Eda a look that was halfway between embarrassed and furious, and she could feel her cheeks begin to flush.

“Eda!” she said, “This is serious!”

“Could I get that in writing?” Amity asked Eda in a speculative voice.

“Amity!” Luz sputtered, snapping her head toward her girlfriend and seeing that her own cheeks were flushed a delicate pink to match Luz's.

Amity turned to Luz and the dreamy look that had clouded over her eyes at Eda's words vanished in an instant.

“I'm joking obviously!” Amity said with frantic motions of her arms, “It's just been a really stressful couple of days for me – a few laughs are good for my mental health.”

Eda's cackling laughter dragged Luz's attention back from the suspiciously-less-than-joking look on Amity's face.

The older woman wiped a tear from her eye.

“Ah, you little dweebus's are a riot,” she said, “But in all seriousness I think I do actually have two ideas that would probably work to try and salvage this whole dumpster fire of a situation that you've found yourselves in.”

“Really? What are they then?” Luz asked, leaning forward across the table toward Eda.

“The first idea is to clip the Blight's claws so that their threat about Luz's scholarship is neutralized. We can take the recording to the dean of Hexside and let him know in advance about the situation to see if there's anything he can do to help,” Eda said.

“How are we going to tell this to the dean exactly?” Amity asked, “As far as I know he has a very busy schedule and doesn't see many students about personal matters.”

“Well you two happen to be in luck because I actually know the old coot personally. I had taken a few classes with him back when he was just a history professor and sometimes he comes by the shop to search for interesting antiques,” Eda said, “I also know where he lives too, so we can pay him a visit tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Luz said with some surprise.

“Sure,” Eda said, “The faster we do this the better – it gives Amity's parents less time to maneuver around us and it gives our statement credibility compared to trying to reveal the recording _after_ they try and pull something.”

“You said you had two ideas,” Amity said, “What was the second one?”

“The second idea should only be done after we finish doing the first one,” Eda said firmly.

“Okay, so we'll wait until _after_ we talk to the dean – but what is it exactly?” Luz asked.

“Do you know why countries always announce super loudly whenever they build a new kind of bomb or a huge laser or some other sort of fucked up giant weapon instead of keeping it a secret?” Eda asked.

“Because our planet is mostly run by sociopaths and narcissists with crippling insecurity issues?” Amity said.

“Partly that, yes,” Eda said with a nod, “But _also_ because the entire point of having a horrible super weapon is to let everyone know that you have it so that they have to think twice before they try messing with you.”

Eda's words lined up in Luz's head and the ideas clicked into place.

“So what you're saying is that if we tell Amity's parents that we have the recording and that we would use it if they try anything then... we'd have a stalemate?” Luz said.

“Mutually assured destruction,” Eda agreed with a nod, “And they probably feel like they'd have a lot more to lose considering they have a fortune and a reputation to protect. It's an awful lot to throw away just to hurt some college kid they've never even met before.”

Luz turned to Amity with a questioning look on her face.

“Do you think it would work?” she asked.

Amity rubbed a thoughtful knuckle across her lower lip.

“It might actually,” she said slowly, “They're constantly worried about anything that could be interpreted as a scandal damaging the family name or hurting their social standing and this recording could easily do both... especially if I let them know that I'd be willing to send it to both the media and to their business rivals who would be even more ruthless in using it against them.”

“But,” Eda said in a firm voice, “We don't do any of that until after we've made sure that Luz's scholarship is protected first.”

Amity nodded her head.

“Yeah, of course,” she said, “Keeping Luz safe is my number one priority here.”

Luz reached out and placed her hand on Amity's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” she said, “And my priority is going to be making sure that you don't have anyone trying to manipulate you like this ever again.”

Amity brought her hand up to cover Luz's hand with her own and turned to give her a fond smile.

“Ugh,” Eda groaned, “Could you two be any cuter? Have some mercy for my sanity here and save the lovey-dovey stuff for when you're alone.”

Luz stuck her tongue out at Eda in response. It wasn't the most witty of retorts, but it was all she could come up with after having spent the afternoon using up her emotional energy and brainpower on drama bombs and plotting schemes.

Luz had insisted that Amity stay the night since they were all planning to travel together to see the dean the next day anyway and Amity hadn't seemed inclined to object to the invitation.

They watched movies together late into the night side by side in the attic bedroom, and Luz reveled in finally being able to enjoy one of the movie dates she had been having with Amity in person. By unspoken agreement they didn't say a single word about the recording or any of the worries related to it that were on each of their minds that night. Their conversation meandered along aimlessly through other topics instead until exhaustion finally overtook them and they drifted off to sleep with Amity wrapped up in Luz's arms.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz wasn't sure what she had expected when Eda had taken her and Amity to meet the dean of Hexside University but the tall elderly man who had greeted them at the doorway of the modest sized house wearing an old silk robe and pointy toed slippers hadn't been it.

_I guess even deans want to get comfortable during the holidays_ , Luz thought.

“Hieronymus – you haven't aged a day since I last saw you,” Eda said, “What's your secret - did you have yourself mummified?”

The dean had taken one look at Eda, raised a bushy grey eyebrow at her comment and then ushered them into his comfortably appointed living room.

“It's good to see you again Edalyn,” he said in a raspy but still hearty voice, “I expect that whatever brought you here must have been serious considering that you're now violating the terms of a fairly severe restraining order.”

The old man retrieved a pair of crystal tumblers from a small cabinet, poured out a generous measure of gold colored liquor into each glass and then set one down in front of Eda and kept the other for himself.

“Oh Bumpykins, we both know that you didn't mean it when you filed for that thing,” Eda said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

She took a sip of her drink and winced appreciatively.

Dean Bump gave Eda a close-mouthed smile that carved deeper wrinkles into his square-jawed face and then took a sip of his own drink.

“It may have been a _slight_ overreaction on my part,” the dean conceded, “And ultimately pointless it seems since you're here now anyway.”

“Actually,” Luz said hesitantly, “Your honor... um... dean Bump... sir, we're here because of me.”

The old man aimed a piercing blue stare at Luz and then turned and saw Amity sitting beside her and made an inquisitive noise deep in his throat.

“Well I don't know who you are young lady,” he said, “But I see that you're an acquaintance of both one of our most academically distinguished legacy students as well as the woman who once held the record for the greatest number of sanctions and disciplinary probation's earned in a single term of Hexside's history. I don't know what that may say for your character yet, but I am intrigued to learn more.”

“Wait, someone finally broke my record?” Eda said in a distressed voice.

“Yes,” the dean said with a satisfied smile at the look on Eda's face, “Two people actually – Ms. Blight's older siblings. They're Glandus's problem now, thank god.”

“We're getting off topic here,” Amity said quickly.

“What, exactly, is the topic then?” dean Bump asked.

It took some time to explain the situation in full, but when Luz had pulled out her phone to play the file of Amity's conversation with her parents the old man had leaned in closer and listened intently. His face was a stiff mask throughout the duration of the recording and once it finally ended he turned to glance back and forth between his three unexpected house guests.

“I don't know if you were intending to show this to me as a way to start legal proceedings of some kind against the Blight family,” he began, “But in this state audio recordings made without the express permission of all subjects are not admissible evidence in a courtroom. It's useless for that purpose.”

Luz felt her heart sink in her chest at the deans words.

“Fortunately for you and unfortunately for them, my school is not a court of law,” he said in a clearly annoyed tone of voice.

“Does that mean that you'd still be able to help Luz?” Amity asked.

“Yes. I can't show favoritism for Luz specifically of course,” dean Bump said, “But I take my duties as an educator very seriously. Anyone that tries to interfere with the well-being of one of _my_ students and expects to get away with it will learn a very harsh lesson indeed.”

“Well that sounds ominous,” Eda said with an approving grin before tossing back the remains of her drink.

“Besides, if your parents really think that they can bribe any of my faculty to do something this despicable then they have severely underestimated the quality of professors that we have working at Hexside,” Bump said to Amity, “Not everyone in the world is motivated purely by money.”

“I'm sure that would be news to them,” Amity said.

Luz breathed out a deep sigh of relief at the confidence in the old man's voice.

She hadn't wanted to admit it out loud, especially to Amity since it would have likely made her feel even more unreasonable guilt about the situation, but Luz had been terrified about the threat that Amity's parents had made becoming a reality.

Her mother had been so proud of her for being admitted into one of the most prestigious universities in the country and the thought of being thrown out of it and forever branded as a cheater would have broken her heart.

A short time later Bump had shooed them all out of his home, saying that he needed to make some important calls.

“We should get together again soon Hieronymus,” Eda had called out as she walked back to Amity's car.

“Yes,” Bump said with a small wave, “Though next time I would appreciate it if you phoned ahead before visiting so that I have time to hide my good scotch first.”

“You poured me that glass of your own free will!” Eda objected.

“Only because I know you would have tried to sneak the whole bottle out if I hadn't,” Bump countered.

As the car made its way back through the shady roads of dean Bump's quiet and well-off neighborhood Luz felt herself begin to grow unsettled.

“It can't really be this easy can it?” Luz asked, “Just one visit to some nice old man in slippers and suddenly all of this crazy nightmare is just over?”

“I'm with Luz here,” Amity said, “This just seems way too simple.”

“Why not?” Eda asked, “It was a pretty clear cut situation. The Blight's said they'd bribe some professor to lie about Luz, so we went over their heads and straight to the top. Now anyone that tries to claim anything false about her is going to have Bump looking at them extra carefully, and nothing shady gets by him. Believe me on that, I tried to pull a _lot_ of stuff when I was a student of his.”

“But it just doesn't seem... I don't know, fair? The only reason that we were able to do this at all was because you just happened to know the dean... I'd still be totally screwed if you didn't,” Luz said.

“Well the only reason that Amity's parents were able to threaten you in the first place is because they were rich jerks who were going to use their money to break the rules – how would that have been fair?,” Eda asked.

“I guess you have a point,” Luz said.

“It still does seem a bit too easy though,” Amity said.

“If you guys wanted it to be harder you should have said so,” Eda said in a mocking tone, “I could have made you complete some kind of nerdy quest before we came here.”

“That might have been fun,” Luz said.

“Well... I guess it's actually not totally done yet,” Amity said, “There's still the second part of the plan that we talked about before.”

Luz felt herself stiffen in her seat and she saw that Amity was looking worried as well.

_I had almost forgotten about that part,_ she thought to herself.

_I never expected that the first time I spoke to my girlfriend's parents it would be to try and force them to leave us alone with a hidden blackmail tape... then again I didn't think that I'd ever date someone who came from a family of wealthy sociopaths either._

_Life is funny that way sometimes I guess._

“Don't even _think_ about doing that today,” Eda said firmly.

“Weren't you the one who said that the sooner we did this stuff the better?” Luz asked.

“Yes, for the first part,” Eda said, “But give it some time for the second. You girls have had a rough couple of days and need to rest and decompress a bit before you go diving back into something that stressful.”

“How long?” Amity asked.

“However long it takes for you to feel ready,” Eda said with a shrug, “Just don't rush into it. You're going to need to be firm and confident when you deal with them for this to work – freaking out won't help.”

“I don't know if I'd ever feel ready enough to do something like this,” Amity admitted.

Luz wasn't sure if she would be either, but she had to agree that Eda's advice seemed solid.

Anyway, putting off what was sure to be an extremely ugly conversation to spend some much needed time to reconnect and relax with her girlfriend seemed like a great idea to her.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Are you sure you're ready for this?” Luz asked.

She looked Amity squarely in the eye, her gaze was both serious and sympathetic.

“Yeah,” Amity said, “I think I can do it this time Luz.”

“I believe in you!” Luz declared.

Amity huffed out the air from her lungs and then, with great care and concentration, tapped the egg in her hand against the edge of the table. A thin line of cracks formed across the surface.

Slowly, with the care of a surgeon performing an especially delicate procedure, she brought the egg up over the bowl of dry ingredients and then broke it open with her thumb.

A grin split Amity's face and she turned a triumphant smile to Luz.

“I did it! It didn't explode in my hand, and there's no big chunks of eggshell in the bowl or anything!” Amity said with a grin.

Luz mimed wiping a nonexistent tear away from the corner of her eye.

“They grow up so fast,” she said.

Amity gave her girlfriend a playful slap in the shoulder and then took a look back at her counter-top and the evidence of all of her previous failed attempts which cluttered the surface with bits of shell and smears of yolk.

“Well, obviously not _that_ fast,” Amity muttered.

“Oh don't worry about it,” Luz said, “Everyone messes up the egg part the first few times.”

“Luz,” Amity said, “We were one more destroyed egg away from needing to go buy a fresh dozen.”

“But we _didn't_ since you cracked it perfectly – so instead of beating yourself up about it you should beat this batter instead,” Luz said as she passed the hand mixer over to Amity.

Amity groaned at the pun, but Luz could still see the tiniest hint of a smile perking up the corner of her mouth and took comfort in that.

The kitchen of Amity's apartment looked messier than usual thanks to their afternoon of baking experiments. Amity had decided that she was still interested in the idea which Luz had over the break about having a small party to celebrate the New Year together, and Luz had declared that you couldn't have a party without a cake.

Of course, Amity had never baked a cake before and it wasn't something that Luz had much experience with either. While she did enjoy cooking meals, baking desserts was another matter and Luz had found that she usually didn't have much luck with it.

The first cake attempt ended up being a charred lump which had set off the apartments smoke alarm when Luz and Amity had gotten distracted watching a movie on the couch and missed the sound of the oven timer going off. Luz had been prepared to throw in the towel at that point and just buy a cake from the store, but Amity had insisted that they go buy another box of mix instead and try again.

This second attempt already seemed to be going much smoother. Luz saw that Amity looked eager to work through the steps of the recipe and had an expression of pride on her face when she corrected the many mistakes that they had made together on their first cake.

Once the new batch of batter was poured into the pan and set into the oven Amity and Luz set themselves to cleaning up the disaster area which they had made of the kitchen.

“What got you so dead set on making the cake this time anyway?” Luz asked while she wiped globs of dried batter off the wall.

“Well, you're always telling me that I can't just live off of takeout forever,” Amity said, “So I thought it would be good to get a little better at this kind of stuff.”

Luz smiled at the earnest look in Amity's face.

“So does that mean I can expect you to make me a cake for my birthday then if this one turns out good?” Luz asked in a teasing voice.

“Are you saying that you wouldn't eat a cake I made for you if it didn't come out absolutely perfect?” Amity asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“For you, I'd eat a lump of coal if you put enough frosting and a candle on it,” Luz said.

Amity gave a small snort of laughter as she dumped the dirty mixing bowls and utensils into the dishwasher.

“You're a huge dork, you know that right?” she asked.

“I've been told I have a few dorkesque qualities, yes,” Luz said.

“You were told right,” Amity said in a dry voice, “It's really nice having you here with me like this though. This place gets kind of lonely sometimes.”

Luz could believe it. Between the tall ceilings and the wide, open design of the rooms Amity's apartment felt more like a luxury cavern than a home compared to the cluttered but cozy feel of Eda's place.

“Well, I like spending time with you so if you ever start to get lonely just feel free to call me over anytime,” Luz told her.

Amity smiled back at her.

“I will... though it would be nicer if it could be permanent,” Amity said.

Luz turned to Amity in surprise.

“Permanent?” she asked.

A flush bloomed on Amity's cheek and her smile became fixed and toothy.

“I just meant it would be nice to be roommates,” Amity stammered out, “Not like, getting married or anything... that'd be crazy right? We've only been going out for a few months after all.”

Luz, of course, would never admit to having entertained any fantasy of that kind during her idle moments and was quick to say so.

“Right!” Luz said quickly, “That would be just ridiculously hasty of us!”

“Oh definitely!” Amity agreed with an awkward laugh, “Way, way too fast – I've definitely never thought about it at all!

“Me neither!” Luz said with a stilted laugh of her own.

“Oh my, is the cake burning?” Amity said in a surprised voice.

Luz turned and saw that the cake was still fine since it had only been placed in the oven a few minutes ago. It probably wasn't even warm yet at this point.

She licked her lips and thought about her next words carefully when she saw the panicky look in Amity's eyes.

“I... I do like the idea of living together too though,” Luz said.

Amity turned back toward Luz and away from the non-burning cake.

“You do?” she asked.

“Well, yeah,” Luz said, “I mean... I already love being around you as much as I can now, so why wouldn't I want even more of that?”

Amity's expression softened.

“I'm glad you do,” she said, “Though to be honest I have no idea where I'm going to be living soon anyway so it's just an idle thought.”

Luz felt a stab of panic in her chest.

“Oh, right,” she said.

They had discussed the possible fallout of their future conversation with Amity's parents several times already, but one thing that Amity had been certain about was that she had no desire to depend on her parents for support anymore. In her own words, it really would feel like real blackmail and not justified protection if she kept taking their money to pay for her schooling and living expenses once they had been told about the recording.

Luz had agreed with Amity and the pair had spent hours trying to hunt down possible forms of financial aid that Amity could use to cover her costs for the next semester such as grants, scholarships or possibly just normal loans if she wasn't able to get the others in time to meet the deadline for payment. She had also applied for several jobs and had Eda listed in her references on her resume as a previous employer in case anyone called to ask about her (nonexistent) work experience. She had even started memorizing the routes and schedule of the local buses so that she would be able to get around once she had returned her car.

_Now seems like it might be a good time to tell her_ , Luz thought.

“Well, what if you came to live with me and Eda?” Luz asked.

Amity's eyebrows shot up.

“Are you sure that you should be offering me something like that? It's not really your apartment to give away and I don't know how Eda would feel about having me around so much,” she said.

“It was actually Eda's idea,” Luz said, “We were talking last night and she was telling me that we could probably clear out one of the spare rooms in the apartment and it would be big enough to fit in two people. She had originally offered to do that for me when I moved in, but I hadn't minded staying in the attic since it's where I used to sleep whenever I'd come visit her as a kid.”

“That's very generous of Eda,” Amity said, “I'd feel guilty for imposing on her so much though. She barely knows me.”

“Well, if you feel that way it could be temporary,” Luz said, “Just until we can both get jobs that could help cover rent for a place of our own.”

“You're really serious about this?” Amity asked.

“Yeah... I've kind of been thinking about it for a while, and this whole situation has just made me more sure,” Luz said.

Amity was silent for a long moment, and Luz felt her stomach lurch.

_I hope that didn't come off as too pushy_ , she thought.

_She did say that she was interested in living together too though._

Before Luz could work herself into a panic Amity nodded her head.

“Okay,” she said, “If Eda is okay with it then yes. I'd love to go live with you.”

Luz's heart soared in her chest and the stress she had been feeling over the past few days thinking about when the best time would be to ask Amity about her plan evaporated.

She moved in close and cupped Amity's face in her palm, feeling her heart melt when she saw the peaceful expression that came over her girlfriends face at that simple touch.

“It'll probably take some getting used to,” Luz said, “but I think we can really make it work.”

“Luz, you've met my siblings right?” Amity said, “If I could grow up sharing a house with those two then I think I can handle having you as a roommate.”

“I'll try not to take that as a challenge,” Luz said in a teasing tone.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz felt Amity's hand clench tightly against her own when she heard the outgoing call sound begin to play from the speakerphone.

Her own heart was pounding extremely hard, and her mouth was dry as an old bone but she was doing her best to project confidence. She knew that no matter how much stress she was feeling right now that it must be so much harder for Amity.

She had to be here for her through the worst of it all.

There was a click from the line and a man's voice answered.

“Amity? What was the meaning of that text that you sent your mother and I earlier?” he asked.

Luz gave Amity's hand an encouraging squeeze.

“I wanted to speak to you about what we discussed in your study at Christmas – could you put me on speaker so that I could talk to both of you at once?” Amity asked.

Amity's father grumbled a bit but Luz could hear the change in the lines volume that showed that the speakerphone function had been turned on.

“Have you come to your senses about your situation at last then?” a woman asked.

Luz felt a small surge of anger at the sound of Amity's mother's voice. It was hard not to, considering that she had only ever heard her once before in unpleasant circumstances but she did her best to control her temper. Amity had told Luz very clearly that she wanted to do all of the talking, and Luz had agreed to her condition.

“Yes,” Amity said, “I've thought about what you said and I've decided that I won't be breaking up with Luz.”

There was a frozen silence that stretched on for several agonizing seconds before Amity's father responded.

“I'm disappointed in you Amity,” he said in a voice that radiated suppressed anger, “I thought that we had raised you better than to make stupid choices.”

“Yes, you do remember that there could be rather severe consequences for your friend if you insisted on being disobedient, don't you dear?” Amity's mother interjected.

Luz saw a sharp frown crease Amity's face.

“So you two were serious about that then?” she asked.

“We wouldn't joke about something as important as our daughters future,” her father said.

“I think,” Amity said in a voice that grew more firm with each word, “That it would be a very bad idea to do something like that. If you _were_ to do anything that might cost Luz her scholarship I would let everyone know that it was your fault. I'd raise such a huge scandal over this that you wouldn't be able to pay people to be seen with BlightChem stock in their portfolio. You could lose millions – maybe even be removed from your position as CEO by the board of directors. Is interfering with who I choose to date really worth a risk like that?”

“An empty threat,” her father said, “Everything you'd be destroying would have eventually been yours anyway – you'd only be robbing your future self.”

“I _never_ cared about the company,” Amity said, “And I still don't. Give it to Ed or Em or both of them at once. Just leave Luz alone and let me go and live my own life and I promise I'll never tell anyone about our conversation at Christmas time.”

“You have no proof, so that's a meaningless threat dear,” her mother said.

“Well,” Amity said, “That's not exactly right.”

Luz took that as her cue to find the numbers which Amity had given her earlier in her contacts and then sent each of them the file.

It had been Amity's idea to rename the files from 'Homework' to 'Important'. Luz had tried to convince her to go with 'Gotcha!' instead but realized that Amity was right – trying to provoke them further probably wasn't a good idea.

There was another silence which stretched on even longer. Luz thought that she could hear just the faintest sounds of the now-familiar recording being played in the background.

“How many people have heard this?” Amity's father asked.

“A few,” Amity replied, “But I promise that many, many more people will hear it if you still plan on doing anything bad to Luz. I don't imagine that if I sent it to Boscha that she'd be able to resist showing it to her mom, and you know what a gossip she is.”

“Amity Blight!” her mother screamed into the phone, “You would threaten to blackmail your own parents?”

“Are you seriously pretending to have the moral high ground here? You do realize that's exactly what you were doing to me, right?” Amity asked.

“She has a point there Odalia,” Amity's father said, “I admit that I hadn't expected something this ruthless from you – you really were the best choice to take over the company.”

“Alador stop joking around and do something about your daughter!” her mother shouted back.

“What exactly am I supposed to do then?” he asked in a voice that seemed half angry and half amused, “Go back in time and prevent us from saying anything incriminating?”

There was another silence.

“Well Amity,” her father continued, “Since you seem to be the one holding all of the cards I'd like to ask what are your terms? I assume that your silence will come at a steep price?”

“I don't want anything,” Amity said quickly.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I meant exactly what I said – I don't want anything from you. No money for my tuition, no apartment, no monthly deposits for expenses in my bank account. I can leave the keys for my car here in the apartment and you can get Ed or Em to come pick them up,” Amity said, “All I want is for you to just leave me and Luz alone.”

“Amity, you can't mean that,” her mother said, “Is that horrible girl putting you up to this?”

There was a note of desperation in her voice, and despite everything she knew Luz couldn't help but feel a sick twist in her gut at the sound of it.

“I do mean it,” Amity said, “And you should be thankful to Luz – I had originally wanted to take the recording straight to the news but she convinced me to talk it out with you first and settle this quietly.”

A lie, Luz knew, but a fairly harmless one.

“Everything that we have done has been to protect you and give you the best life possible,” her father said.

Amity swallowed and shook her head.

“I know you believe that – but that doesn't make it better and it doesn't make it right,” she said, “Even if you do love me, you don't respect me enough to let me make my own decisions. I don't deserve to live like that. No one does.”

“What if we just agreed to forget the whole thing then,” her father said, “You could continue to see Ms. Noceda with no interference from us, but we would still provide you with all of the support you need... you could even change majors if you like.”

Amity took a deep breath.

“No,” she said, “I've made my decision. I... I do love both of you... even after all of this I still can't help it, but being with you isn't healthy for me.”

There was a short, heavy pause.

“Alright,” her father said, “Before we go though, I'd like to say one final thing if I may.”

Luz saw the tears beginning to form in Amity's eyes and she moved over to fold her into a hug.

“Okay,” Amity said, “Go right ahead.”

“What you're feeling now – that bright spark of young love and thrill of rebellious freedom... it won't last,” he began, “One day your infatuation will fade and that freedom that you cherish will seem like an even heavier burden when you realize how hard it is to survive out in the real world and just how valuable what you threw away was when you chose to leave this family. When you realize this, I want you to remember just one thing.”

“What's that?” Amity said in a firm voice.

“Remember that there will always be a place for you here, in your rightful home, with us,” he said.

“Yes, enjoy your little adventure dear,” her mother added, “We'll be waiting for you to return whenever you're willing to admit your mistakes.”

Before Amity could respond the line went dead and there was only the flat sound of the dialtone droning out of the speaker.

Luz stared at the phone in Amity's hand and wished that there were some way that she could reach out through the speaker of the phone and slap both of her parents for that final attempted jab at their daughters self-confidence.

She heard the sound of Amity sighing deeply.

“Well,” she said, “That went about as well as could be expected I guess.”

“Do you think they meant it?” Luz asked, “About leaving you alone I mean – not the other stuff.”

“Maybe,” Amity said with a tired shrug, “I was expecting to be disowned – or for there to be a lot more yelling at the very least. Maybe they were worried that I was recording this call too and didn't want to risk giving me more ammunition to use against them.”

“Are you okay?” Luz asked, giving Amity another gentle squeeze.

She still hadn't released her from the hug and she didn't intend to do so until she was sure that Amity didn't need any extra comforting.

“Honestly, I don't know,” Amity said, “I'm just _feeling_ so much right now and it's way too much for me to process all at once.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Luz asked.

Amity leaned in closer to Luz and nuzzled her face into Luz's shoulder.

“Just hold me right now,” she said.

They moved over to the queen sized bed which occupied a great deal of their new shared room in Eda's apartment and sat down side by side on it's edge, with Amity shifting around until she was leaning against Luz's shoulder for support.

“It really is a little scary,” Amity said.

“What is?” Luz asked.

“The future. I've had my whole life planned out for me for so long and now there's just... nothing. It's a little overwhelming to suddenly have no idea how it's going to go. I don't even know what major I want to change to now,” Amity said.

“Well, there's a trick for that,” Luz said.

“Oh?” Amity said, “And what would that be?”

“Just take it one day at a time,” Luz said, “And remember that you aren't alone.”

Amity gave a quiet laugh.

“I'll try and remember that one,” she said.

She reached a hand up to gently stroke her fingers over Luz's cheek and then leaned in to kiss her.

At that moment Luz also felt the uncertainty of the future stretching out before her, but she hoped that whatever it lead to that it would find her and Amity moving toward it side by side without regrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback, as always, is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some. Reading the comments on the other chapters I posted was a huge source of motivation for me, so thank you to everyone that has left one in the past and to everyone who will leave one in the future.
> 
> The final chapter will be posted as soon as I finish writing it (which means I need to actually start writing it).
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone who has been reading since the beginning and I'll see you all again at the finale!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isn't it always weird whenever there's a sudden unexplained time skip in a story?
> 
> Anyway, three years later...

The drive had been a long one, but Luz felt that the company she had with her in the old van had probably made it feel much faster than it would have been if she had been alone. The lively conversation had gradually flagged after the group had stopped for lunch though, and everyone else in the vehicle aside from herself was currently either asleep or beginning to drift off toward it.

Luz couldn't blame them, she felt a bit tired as well but as the driver she had to stay alert. The tree lined path through the forest seemed to stretch on forever without any notable landmarks in sight and it was beginning to make her feel antsy about ever reaching their destination.

“Do we have much longer to go?” she asked, glancing up at the rearview mirror to see if the group's self-appointed navigator had heard her in his drowsy state.

Gus rubbed his eyes and re-checked the map on his phone, then shook his head.

“No, we should be getting there pretty soon,” he said, “Maybe fifteen minutes more, max.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief.

Luz was grateful to Eda for pulling her old van out of storage and loaning it to them for the trip, but the vehicle had its share of quirks which made it less than pleasant to drive. The old machine seemed to be made entirely out of spare parts for one thing, and steering the van on even the smoothest road felt like trying to pilot a boat through a stormy sea.

Eda had once claimed that she won the van in a game of Texas hold 'em - Luz suspected that whoever the van's original owner had been must have felt at least a little relieved when they had drawn the losing hand that round.

Luz glanced out from the side of her eyes to the passenger seat and a small smile crept it's way up the corner of her lips at the way the late afternoon sunlight shone through the dusty windows and gleamed on the mint-green hair of the woman seated beside her. The chestnut brown color of Amity's roots was starting to become very noticeable, and Luz idly wondered if she was going to re-dye it soon or let it grow out back to her natural hair color once more.

 _She'd be gorgeous either way_ , Luz thought.

_But I do kinda miss seeing her with her original color sometimes._

A rough patch in the road set the van to bouncing and shaking, which jolted both Amity and Willow out of their naps and back to the world of the living.

“Are we driving through a field of bowling balls or something?” Willow griped from the back seat, rubbing at a red spot on her forehead where she had bounced it off of the side panel during a particularly nasty bump.

"Hey, don't blame me," Luz said, "The roads this far out from the city generally aren't the best maintained."

Amity blinked the sleep out of her eyes and gazed out of the window with a look of interest on her face.

"I think we should be getting close by now - I'm pretty sure I recognize this area," she said.

Luz's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"How can you tell?" she asked, "It all just looks like more trees to me."

"It just feels right I guess?" she said.

"How mysterious," Luz said.

"Plus, I think we just drove by a spot where Emira almost started a forest fire when we were kids," she added.

Luz was about to ask Amity to expand on that particular childhood memory when they passed a bend in the road which revealed their destination. The land ahead sloped down toward a gorgeous lake which shimmered with ripples of silver in the late afternoon sunlight. On the shore of that lake there was a structure that resembled a rustic cabin which had been fed on a steady diet of steroids until it had reached its current monstrous size.

"I'm guessing this is the place then?" Luz asked as she drew closer to the building.

 _I didn't even know that there were such things as three-story cabins_ , she thought to herself.

 _I was picturing a cozy little cottage or something when Amity was telling me about this place_.

Considering that the property had once belonged to one of Amity's great uncles though, it wasn't too surprising.

A belief in architectural restraint didn't really seem to be a Blight family trait.

Luz pulled the van up the gravel driveway which spread out from the front of the mega-cabin to park and the four friends piled out of the van with a chorus of appreciative groans at finally being able to stretch their legs again.

Willow was gazing out at the forest which ringed the lake with a smile on her face and then moved up closer to stand beside Luz and Amity.

"This place is beautiful! It was really nice of your brother to let us come stay here," she said to Amity.

"It didn't take much to convince him," Amity said with a shrug, "Apparently he's way too busy at his new job to be able to make it out to the lake this summer."

"Well, his loss is our gain," Gus said with an enthusiastic grin, "According to my research this area is a very likely spot for a possible UFO sighting."

"I can't say I've ever seen anything like that out here myself," Amity said skeptically.

" _Yet_ ," Gus said, "But I still think the odds are pretty good that we might. I've looked up the history of sightings in other areas nearby and it's possible that the lake is along the flight path that they'd have to take to get between those points."

"Did you know that your family's old summer getaway was apparently a UFO super highway?" Willow asked Amity in a playful tone of voice.

"No, I don't think any of us did," she replied, "I'm pretty sure if anyone in my family had known that spaceships were trespassing in our airspace they would have tried to sue someone over it."

"Who would you even sue in a case like that?" Luz asked.

"I don't know, NASA? Or maybe just the concept of space itself in general?" Amity said, "For emotional damages and possible exposure to hazardous chemicals. Who knows what those spaceships run on after all?"

Gus made a little ' _humph_ ' sound in his throat at his friends joking attitudes about this most serious of topics.

"Laugh all you want," he said, "But when I come back from this trip with the most definitive proof yet that aliens are real, you'll all see... plus, I can rub it in Matt's stupid face during the next election for club president."

Luz took another look out across the lake and spotted the small waterfall in the distance which Amity had told her about whenever she spoke about the summers that she would spend here with her siblings and uncle. It was a beautiful sight, and was sure to be even more majestic up close, but seeing it in person for the first time sent a jolt of anxiety straight through Luz's chest.

 _This is really happening now isn't it?_ , she thought.

"Hey, Gus - would you and Amity be able to go check out the inside of the place while me and Willow get our stuff unloaded from the van?" Luz asked.

Amity quickly nodded her assent to the plan.

"That's probably a good idea - we can see if the power and water are working, and check if my brother left any 'hilarious' pranks behind for us at the same time," she said.

The two headed off toward the house while Willow went to join Luz beside the van as she struggled to get the uncooperative back doors open.

"Mind telling me why you volunteered us to do all of the heavy lifting?" Willow asked.

"You're saying that like you couldn't easily bench press all of us if you felt like it," Luz said.

"You flatter me," Willow said in a dry voice, "Anyway I could probably only lift Amity - you and Gus are both too weird-shaped and lanky to make good barbells."

"Well, your mighty muscles are only half the reason I asked you to stay behind," Luz admitted, "Mostly I just wanted to talk because I'm getting incredibly nervous."

Willow groaned as she helped Luz heft a loaded ice chest full of food out of the back of the van, but it was a noise of frustration rather than exertion.

"Luz, what exactly do you have to be nervous about?" she asked.

"People generally get nervous before they ask someone to marry them," Luz said defensively, "I think it's a pretty normal reaction, all things considered."

"I'd have thought that you'd have worked all that out of your system by now," Willow said, "You've been wanting to do this for ages."

"I know!" Luz said, "And _you_ know that I wussed out the other times that I've tried. I was feeling so sure about this one though... I mean, we're out here in a spot that's crammed full of her favorite childhood memories and that waterfall she told me about looks like it was carved into the landscape by freaking Cupid himself but..."

"But what?" Willow asked as she casually slung an overstuffed duffel bag across her shoulders and then hefted a suitcase in her free hand.

"But what if this is actually a terrible idea Willow?" Luz asked with a manic edge in her voice.

"What, marrying Amity?" Willow asked in genuine surprise.

Luz shook her head violently.

"No! Not that part - obviously I still want to do that, but what if _now_ isn't the right time to ask?" she said, "Think about it, we're on a trip... what if she says no? Then we'll be stuck out here for the rest of the trip and it'll be _sooooo_ awkward - and you and Gus would be trapped out here with us, just stewing together in our collective awkwardness."

"Luz," Willow said in a patient voice, "The whole reason we even came out here in the first place is because you thought it would be the perfect spot to propose. We could have taken our trip out to anywhere but you convinced us all that this had to be _the_ place for our big summer vacation adventure. Just suck it up and pop the question already."

Luz blew out a sigh.

"You're probably right," she said.

Willow's expression softened at the look of distress on her friend's face.

"Besides," she said in a cheering tone, "What are you even worried about? Do you think that there's even a chance at all that Amity won't say yes? You guys have already been living together for three years now and you're still disgustingly cute with each other. You've got to know that she's crazy about you, right?"

A small smile pulled up the corner's of Luz's lips.

"I _do_ know that she loves me," she said, "I never doubted that for a second... but I guess it's just that I don't know how she would feel about the whole marriage thing. We've never really talked about it except in a sort of joking way, and people don't really _need_ to be married to be happy together. Maybe she's never seriously considered the idea?"

"Well, the only way to find out for sure is to ask," Willow said with an encouraging clap on her friends shoulder, "And the sooner you do, the better. I'd rather not spend my last big college trip with you alternately moping around or freaking out all over the place."

Luz nodded her head.

"Okay," she said, "You're right as always Willow. Tomorrow I'm going to ask her to take a hike out with me to that waterfall and then I'll do it. Would you be able to make up an excuse to keep you and Gus here while I do that?"

"You can count on me," Willow said.

“Thanks Willow,” Luz said.

She moved in close and threw her arms about Willow's torso in a tight hug. Willow couldn't do much to reciprocate the gesture with her arms loaded down with luggage, but she made an appreciative noise.

“Come on,” she said, “Let's get this stuff into the house already, even I can't carry it forever you know.”

Luz hefted a few bags of her own and then followed after Willow toward the looming cabin.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“You know, when you told us that we'd be going out to stay at a cabin out in the woods I figured that we would be roughing it a little,” Gus said as he surveyed the wide open interior of the cabin, "But I'm pretty sure this place is nicer than anywhere I've lived before."

The walls may have had the rough look of natural timber, but there were very modern looking electric lights installed in the ceiling and the spiral staircase leading up to the second floor had a beautifully finished banister carved with a number of decorative woodland scenes. The floor was made from interlocked pieces of stone which were polished flat to glassy smoothness. Sleek, modern appliances hummed with power in the spacious kitchen.

“Well, even if my great uncle did like spending time in the outdoors he wasn't a big fan of any of the discomforts that came with it,” Amity explained as she took the lead in examining the light switches.

“How does this place even have power? We're a million miles from anywhere so we can't be on the grid,” Gus asked.

“We aren't – the electricity comes from solar panels on the roof, plus a gas generator that kicks in for backup if that gets drained,” Amity said.

“Impressive,” Gus said.

They moved through the various rooms, making sure that water flowed properly from the faucets in the kitchen and bathrooms and that there weren't any burnt out bulbs. Apparently the caretaker who looked after the place when it wasn't in use had done a good job though because it was all perfect.

When Amity and Gus had finished their inspection of the third floor, they started to make their way back toward the staircase leading down. Amity paused by a large window and watched Luz and Willow as they unloaded the final supplies out from the back of Eda's van.

She knew that it was totally irrational, but somehow the painting of an owl airbrushed along the side of the van suddenly reminded her of that hideous doorbell at Eda's apartment and she shuddered.

“So,” Gus said in a slow sort of voice, “Do you think that you'll finally be able to pull it off this time?”

Amity bit her lip as she watched Luz struggle under the weight of an overburdened suitcase before Willow came to her rescue.

“Yes,” she said with a nod, “This time I'm certain that I'll be able to work up the courage to ask her.”

“Okay,” Gus said, “Because you said that _last_ time and we both saw how well that turned out.”

“How was I supposed to know that Camila was going to get engaged that same day?” Amity demanded, “I couldn't ask her _then_. It might have looked like I was trying to steal her mom's thunder or rip off her idea or something.”

“Fine, fine,” Gus said in a placating tone of voice, “I can see your point there – but as far as I know there's no one planning anything big at the moment, so you shouldn't have any problems this time, right?”

Amity nodded again.

“Yes, this time I _will_ ask Luz to marry me,” she said.

“What's the game plan?” Gus asked, leaning intently forward.

“Well, there's this absolutely breathtaking waterfall just a short hike from here – I'm thinking that I can lead her over there on a walk and then when we reach the place we can sit and rest for a while beside the cool mist, listening to the birds singing in the trees and when the moment feels right I'll pull out the ring and ask her,” Amity said.

Her voice had taken on a dreamlike quality as she imagined the scenario playing out in her head for the hundredth time.

It had been part of a slow, psychological campaign for Amity to reminisce about her old summer trips to her great uncle's woodland retreat to Luz, but the strategy seemed to have worked. When they had reached out to Willow and Gus to see where they'd want to take their now-traditional summer vacation trip together this year it had been Luz's suggestion that they travel out to the cabin.

The fact that Amity had mentioned to Luz that her brother was so busy at his new job that he wouldn't be able to use it this year and had offered to let them all stay there probably hadn't hurt either.

Amity smiled to herself.

This was going to be it. This wouldn't be like the other times when she had tried to propose to Luz only to have some sort of bizarre coincidence or strange mishap derail all of her plans.

Not this time. This time it would be _perfect_.

Gus nodded appreciatively at the vivid description Amity had given of her proposal.

“I like it,” he said, “It's got _flair_. Just throw in a rainbow or something and it's perfect.”

“Well, the waterfall mist does sort of make little ones sometimes when the sunlight hits it just right,” she said.

Gus snapped his fingers and shot her a grin.

“Then it's better than perfect – you've got this one Amity!” he said.

Amity returned his grin, but then felt a quick flurry of panic bubble up in her stomach.

“Unless she says that no that is,” Amity said, “Oh god Gus, what am I going to do if she says no?”

Gus furrowed his brows in confusion.

“You're kidding me, right?” he asked, “This is _Luz_ we're talking about here. You know – tall girl, nice smile, short hair, head over heels in love with you? That Luz?”

“What if she does though? What if she isn't into the idea or thinks it's too old fashioned or something?” Amity said, “I'm going to be left standing there holding a ring by a waterfall and looking like a moron.”

“Well, technically you'd be on one knee looking like a moron if you're doing it the traditional way,” Gus pointed out.

The look Amity shot him could have caused snow to spontaneously combust.

“Joking,” he said with arms raised in surrender, “Trust me though – you've got nothing at all to worry about. Luz will definitely say yes, and when she does I absolutely call dibs on being the best man.”

“Who's best man would you be?” Amity asked him in genuine confusion.

Gus shrugged.

“Either? Both? I don't know what the etiquette is here but I don't think I'd be a good fit for maid of honor so one of you is going to have to let me best man for them,” he said.

“We'll work something out,” Amity promised.

The two friends made their way down the staircase when they heard the front door open to admit Luz, swearing audibly under the weight of the luggage she was carrying.

“Wait, Amity,” Gus said, reaching out to grab her lightly by the shoulder.

“What's up Gus?” she asked.

He had a serious look in his eyes that she was unaccustomed to seeing there and it made her nervous.

“Are you _totally_ sure that no one in your family ever saw a UFO or alien around here?” he asked with a pleading note in his voice.

Amity squinted as she considered the question.

“No, sorry,” she said after a pause, “Great uncle Buer did once say that he saw the devil lurking out in the woods and was ranting that he had finally come to claim his soul, but I'm pretty sure he was just drunk at the time.”

Gus sighed.

“Well, I'm sure we'll spot something,” he said, “Maybe it's just because no one was really looking before, you know?”

“There's always hope,” Amity replied, giving him a consoling pat on the shoulder.

Amity rushed over to the foyer of the cabin to help Luz bring in the small pile of bags that she had loaded up into her arms and set them aside on the floor. Before much more time had passed the group's supplies had been completely transported from the van and into the house where it could be divided up properly among their owners.

Rooms were claimed, with Luz and Amity calling dibs on the large master bedroom up on the top floor while Willow and Gus each took a room on the second. Amity had noticed as she had toured the cabin that the decoration scheme had changed substantially from her old childhood memories of the place.

There were a lot fewer stuffed animal heads or nailed up hides on the wall for one thing.

She guessed that the changes had most likely come about when Edric had inherited the place after her great uncle's death the year before. Her brother had loved spending the summers out here away from the Manor (and their parents' critical attention) just as much as Amity had, though she remembered that even as a child he had found the dead, glassy stares of the trophy heads to be extremely creepy.

Luz finished putting up the clothes she had brought for their stay into the drawers of their room and then flopped back onto the large bed with a sigh.

“Dibs on not driving on the way back,” she said in a tired voice.

Amity smiled down fondly at her girlfriend.

“You're the only person that can work with that van though,” Amity pointed out, “Last time it didn't even turn on when I tried.”

“You've got to know how to fiddle the key just right otherwise it instantly locks up,” Luz explained, “You're probably right though. That thing is a death trap and I'm the only one of us who knows how to disarm it.”

“Yes, we're all extremely grateful for your life-saving skills,” Amity said as she bent down to plant a kiss on Luz's forehead.

She left Luz to rest her eyes and finished putting up her supplies in the room before she went back downstairs. Willow and Gus were both on the first floor as well, exploring the living room when she arrived and greeted them.

"You know, when my dads' would take me camping as a kid I didn't remember it being quite like this," Willow said as she relaxed back into the overstuffed couch and toyed with the remote for the enormous flatscreen television bolted into the wall.

"Well, it wasn't always _quite_ this modern here," Amity said, "My brother apparently made a few more upgrades than I thought when he inherited the place."

"I'm still going to tell anyone that asks that I stayed out in the wilderness for the summer though," Willow said.

"Yup," Gus agreed, "We're basically living just like the pioneers did."

"I'm pretty sure Abraham Lincoln had this exact same model of television," Amity said in a dry voice.

"Do we have a fiber-optic line connected?" Gus asked.

"I think it's satellite internet actually," Amity said.

"See, it's just like I said," Willow said, "We're living the primitive lifestyle out here."

It took a little bit of work, but between Amity and Gus fiddling with the system they were able to get a steady streaming connection established between Amity's laptop and the television. The three friends lounged together on the couch and binged a few episodes of a sci-fi drama off of Luz and Amity's Crystal Ball account, hardly noticing that time had passed at all until the world outside the windows of the cabin had grown dark.

About four episodes into the series Amity's stomach reminded her of just how long it had been since she had last eaten, and so she volunteered to cook dinner for the group. They had brought plenty of supplies for the week ahead, and she decided to stretch herself a little by cooking up some burgers using the recipe that Luz's mother had shown her.

It wasn't long before Luz came downstairs to join them while they sat around the dining table to eat, lured from her rest either by the smell of the cooking food or the sounds of lively conversation.

Once the meal had been polished off and the dishes had been washed and put away the four friends were left lounging around in the living room trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their evening.

"Did you want to try some of that UFO hunting stuff tonight?" Luz asked Gus in a lazy voice.

He shook his head.

"Nah, I'm still too tired for that after the ride - tomorrow night would be good though," he said.

"What do you guys want to do instead then? I'm not really sleepy yet," Willow said.

Amity flipped around through her saved list of favorite titles on the Crystal Ball app and smiled when an idea came to her.

"How about a movie?" she asked in a voice that dripped with casual nonchalance.

"What sort of movie?" Luz asked.

Amity pulled the title up on the screen and allowed her friends to read the short description of the film, which followed a group of college-aged friends taking a trip out to a cabin in the wilderness and encountering an ancient evil which lurked there... waiting to be awakened.

"Sounds cheesy," Willow said.

"Yeah, that's a super stereotypical setup," Gus agreed.

"Totally predictable," Luz concluded.

Amity shrugged.

"Well, if you guys are too scared to watch it...," she said.

Naturally, there was no backing down after that.

The movie was, as had been said, cheesy, predictable and extremely stereotypical - but it was also very well made and genuinely creepy. Amity had always had a love for thrills of the horror genre, but getting to watch one of the standard _'a group of young adults get killed out in the woods by monsters'_ movies while staying out in the woods herself brought a whole new dimension to the experience.

Luz, Willow and Gus seemed to agree because without saying anything they had all begun to bunch up closer together on the couch as the movie went on. Amity wasn't sure at what point Luz had ended up sitting on her lap with her face buried into Amity's shoulder, but after the scene with the chainsaw and the re-animated taxidermied bear she was pretty sure that Luz couldn't have been pried off of her without the use of a crowbar.

Not that Amity would have ever considered the thought of prying her off in the first place.

Willow and Gus weren't faring much better than Luz, with each of them letting out startled shouts at the jump-scares and flinching at the increasingly absurd (yet still horrifying) death scenes of the various characters.

By the time the credits were rolling Amity was the center of a huddle of people, and felt proud that she'd managed to keep her composure throughout the film. It had been a close thing though - especially during the final scene when she had felt her fingernails digging tightly into her palms while the heroine battled for her life onscreen.

"So, what did you guys think?" she asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"It was pretty good I guess," Luz mumbled from somewhere in the vicinity of Amity's shoulder.

"I've seen scarier," Willow said.

"When?" Gus asked in an uncharacteristically high pitched voice.

"I don't remember," Willow admitted.

At that moment the wind gusted hard outside, a howling shriek of air that rattled the branches of the surrounding trees against the sides of the cabin.

"Should we all split up and head off to bed then?" Amity asked.

Luz peeked up from out behind Amity's shoulder as another freak gust of wind set a tree-branch clawing against a nearby window like nails against a chalkboard.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'P' very loudly.

"How about we just set up here and have a fun little living room camp out tonight instead?" she continued.

Oddly enough, there were no disagreements to the plan.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Luz had been lost in thought all throughout breakfast the next morning, circling around the plan she had made but almost afraid to confront it head-on.

All of the objections and doubts she had told Willow about still held true in her mind... but that didn't change the fact that she had committed herself to going forward with this today.

The four had stepped out from the cozy interior of the cabin for a morning walk on the shore of the lake. Amity had challenged them all to a rock-skipping contest, but since she was the only one of them with any experience at it she kept winning each round (though Gus had managed a single bounce with his last throw and no one had been able to beat Willow for sheer distance).

Luz stared out across the lake at the waterfall far on the opposite shore and took a deep breath. Her hand dipped into her pocket and felt the small cube-shaped lump of the engagement ring box.

 _Okay Luz_ , she told herself, _It's now or never._

_Well... maybe not_ _ never _ _. I mean, there's still always tomorrow right? We'll be here for a whole week before we go back._

_Maybe it would be better to wai-_

She brought her hands up sharply and slapped both of her cheeks at the same time.

_No! It has to be today!_

“You doing okay there Luz?” Amity asked, possibly confused about why her girlfriend was suddenly hitting herself for no reason.

“Everything's good!” Luz said in a totally-natural sounding voice, “I just had... two mosquitoes on my face.”

“Ah,” Amity said.

“Anyway,” she said, “I was just wondering if anyone would maybe want to see about taking a hike through the woods to check out that waterfall? I've never seen one in person before.”

She turned toward Willow and waggled her eyebrows in an extremely exaggerated manner.

“Oh – well, I'd love to go but I think that me and Gus are going to check out the woods around here to go mushrooming this morning instead,” Willow said, giving Luz a broad wink in return.

“Mushrooming? Is this a drug thing?” Gus asked.

“No,” Willow said, “It's looking for wild mushrooms to gather them.”

“Oh,” Gus said with a nod.

He paused.

“Are you _sure_ it's not a drug thing though?” he asked.

“Not unless we get really lucky,” Willow said.

Luz turned to Amity with a smile, glad that her extremely subtle signals had been received and that the plan was now in motion.

“Well Amity, you know this place better than me – do you think you could lead the way?” she asked.

Amity gave Luz a deer-in-the-headlights stare and then frantically patted her own pockets for some reason.

“Yes, that sounds fun,” she said quickly, “But I need to go back to our room to get... deodorant! Yes, deodorant. It's a very long walk and I forgot to put some on this morning.”

 _Oh god, I forgot deodorant too!_ , Luz thought.

_I can't propose to the most beautiful woman in the world if I smell like the inside of a gym bag!_

“I'll go up with you,” Luz said, “I forgot to put some on too.”

“No!” Amity said quickly.

“No?” Luz asked, suddenly confused by this unexplained aversion to antiperspirants.

“I mean, you'll probably be fine without it,” Amity said in a stuttering voice, “You ...always smell... great. You should just stay down here and definitely don't go to the room with me and then we can go together. To the waterfall. Soon.”

Luz stared after Amity as she dashed back to the cabin.

 _Huh. Well that was weird_ , she thought.

Willow and Gus stood by watching this all play out in front of them with expressions that combined amusement and sympathy in equal measure.

“Don't you two have some mushrooming to do?” Luz snapped.

“Right, right,” Willow said with a grin, “C'mon Gus, lets see what treats mother nature has left out for us today.”

Gus followed behind her as she disappeared into the tree-line, occasionally glancing back toward Luz with confusion written in a bold font on his features.

Luz reached into her pocket once more to feel the edges of the ring box and ran her fingertips over the now familiar corners and vaguely velvety texture. She'd been carrying it around with her on one outing or another with Amity for almost a year now, but whenever the ideal situation had seemed to present itself something would get in her way before she could actually manage to propose.

Usually the obstacle that was the most persistently in the way was herself.

A light touch on the shoulder jolted Luz out of her moody thoughts and she gave a startled yelp of surprise.

“Hey,” Amity said in a quiet voice, “You ready to go on that walk?”

Luz swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

“Yeah,” she said, “I've been ready for so long now.”

Amity cocked an eyebrow at Luz.

“I didn't think I was gone all that long,” she said.

“Right!” Luz said with a manic grin, “You weren't – let's just get moving already.”

The hiking trail that circled the lake was a beautiful one – the twisting path was shaded on all sides by tall trees and the air was rich with the scent of water, loam and the sharp green smell of pine. Luz had reached for Amity's hand almost immediately after they had set out, and allowed herself to be led along the path as Amity regaled her with stories of the summers that she had spent in these woods.

Apparently Amity's parents enjoyed taking trips all around the world during the summer – traveling to various parties and events in Europe and Asia hosted by their business associates. Of course, during these long trips they preferred not to have their children running around underfoot so they sent them to stay with her fathers uncle Buer who lived out in this cabin in relative exile from the rest of the extended family.

According to Amity her great uncle wasn't the most welcoming host, but he was never mean or neglectful to the children either. He even enjoyed occasionally taking her and her siblings out and showing them around the lake and forest that he loved so well, which made him practically a saint by Blight family standards in Luz's opinion.

They traded more stories of their childhood summers as the hike wound on, and Luz made Amity laugh as she told her all about the summer when she and her mother had tried camping for the first and only time. The part of the story when the raccoon had stolen her mothers purse had Amity doubled up and red in the face as Luz vividly described Camila chasing after the creature into the underbrush and trying to stun it with a well-thrown shoe.

Luz was glad that she had taken Amity up on the offer to go on more morning runs alongside her, because otherwise she would never have had the stamina to reach the waterfall without collapsing into a puddle of aching muscles. As it was, she was still feeling sharp twinges of pain in her thighs by the time she heard the quiet roar of the water pouring down the side of the small cliff in the near distance.

 _This is it_ , she thought.

_Each step I'm taking is getting me closer to that future that I've been dreaming of._

A sudden swarm of butterflies invaded Luz's stomach and immediately began a marching band competition in her guts.

 _Unless she says no_ , she thought, _in which case I'm hoping that Gus's aliens are real and they can abduct me and take me far, far away from the site of my epic humiliation._

Luz's eyes grew wide when they stepped out from under the shadows of the trees and she saw the waterfall for the first time. It wasn't terribly tall, like one of the ones that heroes were always falling over in movies or cartoons but it was still an impressive sight to her.

A gentle breeze carried a hint of the cooling mist from the base of the waterfall to Luz's skin, giving her a pleasant shiver in the warm sunlight.

“Here we are,” Amity said in a shy tone as she motioned toward the scene.

“It's beautiful,” Luz said with true wonder in her voice as she lost herself in admiring the landscape.

Amity pointed toward some boulders that were closer toward the shore and in the shadow of the misty cloud gathered at the base of the falls.

“Want to come take a seat and enjoy the scenery with me for a while?” she asked.

Luz felt her heart hammer in her chest as they marched forward. The moment she had been waiting for was coming now and she felt the adrenaline flood her system as every possible negative consequence manifested in her mind one after another, leaving her mentally paralyzed.

Just like every other time she'd tried this.

Luz was so distracted by those thoughts that she didn't notice the large pebble that found its way under her shoe and caused her to stumble and trip in mid-step. Amity let out a surprised yelp and tried to help steady Luz, but she fell forward onto one knee and barely managed to catch herself with her hands.

“Are you okay?” Amity asked her, her eyes wide with concern.

Luz looked up, and at that moment an extremely convenient beam of sunlight pierced through the morning clouds and illuminated the waterfall's cloud of mist. Luz blinked her eyes at the sight of Amity reaching out a hand to her, surrounded by a halo of small rainbows.

Suddenly all of the nervousness that she had been feeling vanished as if by magic. This was the perfect time. This was the perfect place.

This was Luz Noceda's magical destiny and she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers.

Still on one knee, she reached into her pocket to pull out the engagement ring box, fumbled open the clasp and held it out toward Amity's outstretched hand.

“Marry me?” she asked.

Amity blinked at her several times, clearly at a loss for words.

“Whuh?” she managed to say.

Luz swallowed again and plunged forward now that retreat was clearly no longer an option.

“Sorry if that was kind of fast... I had a whole speech prepared for this, all about everything that I love about you and how I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you better with each new day... to share all of those special moments we've had and make new ones but I can't remember a single word of it,” she said with a breathy laugh, “Can you believe that? I’m a writer and I can't think of anything to say at the most important moment in my life.”

Amity's hand flew to her mouth as Luz babbled out her explanation and then nodded quickly.

“Yes,” she said as tears began to glisten at the corners of her eyes, “Yes of course I will!”

Luz felt her own eyes grow hot and wet as a grin split wide across her face. She jumped up to her feet with a laugh, completely uncaring of the fact that one of her knees was now bleeding and pulled Amity in close for a kiss.

“DAMN!”

Amity and Luz slowly broke their kiss at the sound of the exclamation and turned toward the bushes nearby where it seemed to have originated from.

“Who's there?” Luz called out.

Only silence answered at first, followed by some furtive rustling.

Amity grabbed Luz by the hand and led her over toward the bushes.

“We said,” Amity said in an annoyed voice, “Who's there?”

After a brief pause Gus and Willow rose up from behind the screen of bushes.

“Sorry,” Gus said in a very sheepish voice, “That ' _damn_ ' you heard wasn't me being mad or anything – I'm actually super happy for you guys and very _very_ sorry for interrupting your special moment.”

“Then why did you?” Luz asked him, giving him the full force of her stare.

Gus raised his hands defensively.

“I'm sorry! I was just surprised because Willow finally won the bet since you proposed first, and now I'm out two-hundred dol-,” he babbled out.

Willow's hand darted up to slap Gus upside the back of his head at that particular revelation but the damage had already been done.

“Bet?!” Amity exclaimed.

Luz paused and looked back and forth between Gus and Amity.

“What do you mean by 'first'?” she asked.

Amity turned back to Luz with wide eyes.

“Oh,” she said, “Um... yeah, I had also... been planning to ask you... to marry me...”

Luz's eyes widened.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Amity said, “Though I guess there's not really a lot of point to that now since I just accepted your pro-”

Luz shook her head.

“Oh no no no _noooo_ ,” she said, “You aren't getting out of it that easy.”

“What are you talking about?” Amity asked.

“C'mon, you’ve got to propose to me now too – you just heard mine so I want to hear yours,” Luz said, making a ' _go-on_ ' motion with her hands.

Amity stared back at Luz and then looked back at their still-present audience of Willow and Gus.

The two eavesdroppers gave Amity a simultaneous shrug and a look that clearly conveyed the feeling of ' _It's Luz, what can you do?_ '

“But _why_? We're already engaged now! Plus, Willow and Gus are still watching,” she said.

“They saw me do mine too,” Luz pointed out, “Fair is fair.”

Amity groaned and then reached into her pocket.

“I'd also tried to come up with a speech too,” she grumbled as she opened up the box and revealed the ring to Luz, “About how ever since I met you my life has changed for the better and of all the ways that you've helped me to become a truer and happier version of myself than I ever could have been without you... but I don't feel like trying to remember all of it right now. Wanna get married?”

Luz clasped her hands together in front of her chest in mock-surprise and sighed.

“Amity Blight,” she said breathlessly, “Are you saying that you're finally going to make an honest woman out of me?”

“ _Honest_ might be a bit of a stretch considering that Eda is your mentor,” Amity said.

“Fair,” Luz agreed.

“But I do promise to try and be the best wife that you'd ever have if you'll promise to do the same for me,” Amity said.

Luz felt a great bubble of pure joy expand in her chest.

“Of course I'll marry you,” she said.

Amity's expression softened and she stepped in to give Luz another kiss, this one so slow and sweet that it left Luz feeling as though she was becoming lighter and lighter from within until even a gentle breeze would lift her off her feet and carry her away through the sky.

When the kiss broke off Luz smiled, and then watched in bemusement as Amity turned to fix Willow and Gus with a fierce golden stare.

“And _we_ ,” she said to the increasingly distressed looking pair, “Are going to have a _talk_.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Night fell over the forest surrounding the cabin like the closing of a velvet curtain speckled with silvery stars.

As an apology for the afternoons shenanigans Willow and Gus had made dinner that night and the meal had turned into an impromptu engagement party for the happy couple. Drinks were poured for all once dinner had been finished, even for Gus despite his half-hearted objection that as the youngest he was still technically under the legal drinking age.

Willow pointed out that he could always toss his rum-and-coke aside if he didn't want to drink it (or better yet, give it to her) but he shrugged and raised his glass in a toast to Amity and Luz instead.

Music blasted out from the cabin living rooms impressive speaker system and there was some increasingly clumsy but joyful dancing by everyone before the group collectively stumbled outside for fresh air. They spread out blankets by the shore of the lake to watch the stars shimmering on the surface of the water and enjoy the gentle sounds of the forest at night. Gus had pointed excitedly at anything larger than a sparrow that flew overhead and snapped rapid fire pictures on his phone, but after he had taken his fourth blurry shot of an unusually persistent barn owl he decided to give the UFO hunt a rest for the night (or at least until his head stopped spinning anyway).

The two sweethearts were snuggled up side by side on their own blanket, with their hands twined together in a gentle grip. Amity rested her head on Luz's shoulder and gave a happy sigh when she glanced down and saw the pair of engagement rings sparkling in the moonlight on their fingers.

“We should wait till after we graduate to do the ceremony,” Amity said in a voice that was only slightly slurred by alcohol, “We're going to be seniors now, so we can't let ourselves get too distracted with planning stuff or whatever.”

Luz nodded along in agreement.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, “Got any ideas of how you'd want to do it?”

Amity made a humming noise in her throat. There wasn't much point in pretending that she hadn't thought about the topic before considering that she and Luz had shared a double-proposal just a few hours ago.

“Something small,” she said, “Just our friends and... family,” she said.

Luz noticed the hesitation in her fiance's voice and gave her a gentle nudge.

“You okay?” she said.

Amity nodded and smiled back at her.

“Yeah,” she said, “I guess I was just thinking about family. The only ones I'd really have on my side would be Ed and Em. Maybe it's weird because I know that Camila and Eda are your family, but I've already started thinking of them kind of like mine lately too.”

“Well, that's because they both love the hell out of you so they are your family now too,” Luz said, “But not in a weird ' _we're like sisters now_ ' way because that would be _fucked_.”

Amity snorted out a laugh.

“Dork,” she said, giving Luz a gentle shove.

Fortunately, even in her inebriated state Luz managed to remain upright.

“Oh!” she said suddenly struck by inspiration, “Do you think Skara's band would want to play at our wedding?”

Amity considered the idea and remembered when she and Luz had attended one of _The Witchlings_ shows the year before. It had certainly been an eye-opening experience to see her old friend up on stage and screaming out lyrics laced with pure unbridled emotion into the microphone, though the feedback blasting out from the speakers had left Amity's ears ringing for a day afterward.

“I don't know,” she said, “Isn't their sound a little... _heavy_ for something like a wedding?”

Luz grunted an agreement.

“Well, she can come as a regular guest then,” she said.

Amity nodded and drummed her fingers against the blanket.

“How about Boscha? If Skara's coming then she'll probably want to come along too,” Amity asked.

“Are you sure?” Luz asked.

“Willow and Skara both say that she's been a _lot_ less of an asshole lately,” Amity pointed out.

“That's a very low bar to clear for Boscha,” Luz said.

“I know,” Amity agreed, “But honestly she _is_ trying... and I don't feel like discouraging anyone who's at least making an effort to be better.”

Luz nodded in agreement.

“Okay, she can come if she wants to,” Luz said, “But at the first sign of trouble I'm having Willow throw her out of the nearest window.”

“Deal,” Amity said.

There was a moment of companionable silence as they snuggled in closer for warmth as a chill gust of wind blew in across the lake.

“What do you think it's going to be like?” Luz asked.

“What, being married?” Amity replied.

“Yeah,” Luz said.

Amity blew out a breath and considered the question.

“Probably pretty much the same as it is now,” she said, “Maybe a little different at tax season?”

Luz snorted.

“Well, I'm seeing it like an adventure,” she said, “Just picture it – you and me against the world. The two of us finally out of school, struggling along until I write that groundbreaking fantasy novel that takes off and sets us up for life.”

“Or until I write that groundbreaking horror novel that takes off and sets us up for life,” Amity countered.

“Race you,” Luz said with a challenging grin.

Amity answered Luz's grin with one of her own and she felt love bloom inside of her all over again for the ten-thousandth time. She reached up a hand and stroked her fingertips against Luz's cheek and then pulled her in for a rum-flavored kiss to warm them both up against the chill night air.

Somewhere, in the distance, a sunflower-seed shaped craft sheathed in an iridescent haze of pure force streaked through the sky overhead but Amity and Luz were focused only on their kiss, and Gus was too busy drunkenly arguing with Willow about the unearthly origins of his out of focus picture of a barn owl so no one noticed it as it passed them by and vanished over the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this ending gave you all a smile - I know it gave me one to write it.
> 
> Feedback, as always, is hugely appreciated from anyone that feels like leaving some - reading comments helped give me the energy to finally complete this fic, so thank you all for the support!
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone who has been reading since the beginning as well as to anyone that decided to give this 93K word fic a shot after it was completed and made it all the way to the end!
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed reading the story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
> 
> I've run out of things to say - so I guess I'll just say goodbye for now, and I hope that you'll see me again soon when I have another project ready to post!


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